Seeking Asylum and Mental Health

"This book is a practical guide for mental health professionals working with people seeking asylum. Often 'refugees' and 'asylum seekers' are spoken of together, as if they are almost the same. But they are not. If you are a 'refugee', it will have been accepted that you can't go back to the country that you fled, that you need safety, protection, and a chance to build a life somewhere else, at least for the time being. You can then set about that rebuilding. If you are an 'asylum seeker', your needs have not yet been recognised - and they may never be. You live with minimal resources, on the margins of a strange society, subject to hostile scrutiny from both those around you, and the asylum process itself. People seeking asylum are at an increased risk of mental ill-health compared to refugees and other migrants (Jannesari et al, 2020) - which is one of the reasons we are writing this book. They are also in a very particular predicament, which is not always recognised - another reason for the book"--

1. Why do people seek asylum? The global context; Rukyya Hassan; 2. Seeking Asylum in the UK; Jude Boyles, Robin Ewart-Biggs, Jonathan Kazembe, Jo Miller and Karin Oliver; 3. Seeking asylum and mental health Norma McKinnon and Chris Maloney; 4. Access to mental health care Alison Summers, Norma McKinnon and Jo Miller; 5. Assessing mental health needs Julia Nelki and Piyal Sen; 6. Interpreting assessment findings Chris Maloney and Cornelius Katona; 7. Formulation and diagnosis Alison Summers; 8. Common diagnoses; Piyal Sen, Alison Summers and Chris Maloney; 9. Intervention ¿ the essentials Alison Summers and Chris Maloney; 10. Specific interventions Piyal Sen, Grace Crowley, Chris Maloney and Alison Summers; 11. Children families and young people Veronika Dobler and Julia Nelki; 12. Records and reports Janine Bonnet and Beate Dasarathy; 13. Improving mental health services Alison Summers, Philomène Uwamaliya, Jude Boyles and Helen Pears; 14. Therapeutic complexity Renos Papadopoulos; 15. Working with people seeking asylum Chris Maloney, Julia Nelki and Alison Summer.