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mental health prevention reflection
refugees justice and the mental health services papers
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The social problem we have chosen to address is the mental health status of refugees. Refugees are exposed to a significant amount of trauma due to fear, war, persecution, torture, and relocating. The mental health illnesses that can affect refugees due to exposure to traumas include post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety. Research indicated that refugees relocating from war-torn countries are particularly vulnerable to mental health concerns because many have experienced early traumas and face further post-traumas after relocation (Cummings, et al., 2011). However, despite the prevalence of mental health issues concerning refugees, mental health needs often go unrecognized and untreated. Post-Traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) develops after a traumatic or life-threatening event such as war, assault, or disaster. In most cases refugees are exposed to and carry these experiences of hostility, violence, racism, discrimination, and isolation with them to their new environment (Kulwicki,A., & Ballout,S., 2008). The resettlement period for refugees is found to be extremely critical because it inflames existing symptoms of PTSD in addition to increasing them. Refugees are likely to develop high rates of depression and anxiety. Although refugees are fleeing to a safe and new …show more content…
The desired outcome would be to make sure that the refugees are able to become productive members of society. The in order to evaluate the progress of those being counseled, we would put the refugees through a screening in order to test the mental health of the refugees with guidelines provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is important that the screening show progress so that we do not lose our funding. If there is no progress we will have to implement new activities and do more research on how to effectively reduce mental health issues for refugees.
All around the world, people are being forced to leave their homes due to war, persecution, and unequal treatment; these people are called refugees. When they flee, refugees leave behind their homes, family, friends, and personal possessions. They make risky escapes and their lives could be easily taken from them. Refugees often become distant and depressed as they experience these traumatic events. In the novel Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai, ten year-old Hà and her family live in South Vietnam: a war torn country. Hà was like any ten year-old; she liked to stay close to her mother and got jealous when things didn’t go her way. She loves her home and wanted to stay, even when the war between the North and South got closer to home.
About seventy-five thousand refugees enter the United States each year. These refugees come from all over the world. Their lives turned inside out and back again, just like Ha’s life. Ha and universal refugees both had to face hardships because they had to escape terrible situations, survive long journeys, and adapt to life in a new place.
The prevalence of trauma of all types is widespread throughout much of the world and includes trauma from accident, child abuse and neglect, domestic violence, political conflict, war, or other human struggles. The many faces of bullying, hatred, economic insecurity and oppression (racism, sexism) leave a steady stream of survivors carrying the burdens of fear, anxiety, rage, and physical illness.
Although refugees face many challenges outside of school, there are ways teachers can make their academic life easier. Many teachers “misinterpret learnt behaviors pertaining to survival in refugee camps or in the migration process itself as behavioral difficulties” (Due, Riggs, Mandara 170). When teachers make assumptions about student behavioral issues based on their “personal observations and assumptions,” it leads to “error of communication diagnosis of the kids” (Usman 112). Neither teachers nor parents should assume they know something about refugee students based on their personal opinions. Some teachers believe that they are unable to relate to their students’ families. As a result, “cultural mismatches” occur between students’ home
This has caused a decrease in refugees since 2009 (textbook). This impacts the practice of social work with refugees, because social workers cannot help refugees if they are discouraged from being admitted into Canada, and if the refugee does make it to Canada, political and social barriers exist from the very start that alienate refugees from the larger Canadian society. Furthermore, another political and social form of oppression is that some members of the Canadian public, specifically politicians and the media, have represented some refugees as “safer” to the Canadian public. Specifically, that refugees who come to Canada straight away out of fear, are inferior and abuse Canada’s refugee system (textbook). This is a form of social oppression that alienates refugees from mainstream Canadian society, and labels them as “bad”. This is another oppressive factor surrounding refugee’s access to claim refuge in Canada, because certain refugees are deemed “acceptable” while others are not, all based on how they seek refuge and leave dangerous
Rothe, Eugenio M. "A Psychotherapy Model For Treating Refugee Children Caught In The Midst Of Catastrophic Situations." Journal Of The American Academy Of Psychoanalysis & Dynamic Psychiatry 36.4 (2008): 625-642. Academic Search Premier. Web. 2 May 2014.
All refugees can suffer from mental health issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, because of this it is important that both medical experts and refugee help experts understand what it is like for them in order to understand how to help them. Because there are so many refugees fleeing Syria they are loading up into boats, trains, and any other mode of transportation that smugglers can get them into. Reported by CNN news source, there are hundreds of Syrian refugees packing inside of a train traveling to an unknown destination. They boarded the train with their families and children not knowing where they are going to end up, but hoping that they will reach somewhere safe in the end (Damon). These journeys can take a large toll on adults physically, emotionally and mentally because they are risking everything just to have a little bit of hope that they might reach a better place. It is imperative that refugees receive the proper mental health assistance, in the form of, “community-based psychosocial care [,which] must become an integral part of emergency response and of the public health care system created in camps and national services. This will help prevent psychiatric morbidity and accelerate the improvement of the psychosocial functioning of people. Efficiency is increased when the concerned community is involved”
Since coming back to Iran from Austria, Marjane’s refugee experience continues to influence her through depression. Ehntholt & Yule explain how “Refugee children and adolescents who have experienced war also report high levels of depression and anxiety” (1198). Depression is typically the feeling of inadequacy and guilt often followed by lack of energy. This is shown in children and adolescents refugees as they are in their home country, they are forced to leave because of war. At times the children and adolescents may go to another country alone with no family waiting for them or seeing their family killed or be hit by atrocities of torture. Without supervision refugee kids and adolescents can lead them to depression than to the point of self-harm or worse case suicide. Ironically Marjane’s refugee experience also puts her into depression than to self-harm as she says, “I
I work as a clinical therapist in a culture-specific organization providing therapeutic services to immigrants and refugees from war-torn countries. Also, the majority of the client I serve have undergone complex trauma in their countries of origin before migrating to a different country for safety reasons. also, they have been forcefully displaced from their country, lost lives, properties, culture, social support network and uncertainty for the future. They have been exposed to violence, traumatized by witnessing or directly experiencing rape, torture, and killings of family members or friends. Cultural shock, language barrier, and social isolation have tremendous influences on their day to day behavior. hence, during a therapy session,
In today’s society refugee resettlement is increasing due to the violence over seas. This transition is a scary yet necessary change for the families in danger. In America we have the resources and freedom that the refugees need to have a better life; however, the negative response to their presence in a new country is harming the families as well. John G. Orme’s article, “Measuring Parental Knowledge of Normative Child Development,” Maurice Eisenbruch’s “The Mental Health of Refugee Children and Their Cultural Development” and Earl E. Huyck’s “Impact of Resettlement on Refugee Children” support my argument regarding the effects of resettlement and their correlation with the negative events which tend to follow refugees, while Warren St. John’s novel, “Outcasts United: An American Town, a Refugee Team, and One Woman’s Quest to Make A Difference,” provides anecdotal evidence to support my claim that the culture shock, stresses of finding a job, and pressure to learn english is overwhelming enough, not to mention discrimination, and moving to an unfamiliar place. Meaning, that the violence and poverty that follows refugees, especially young refugees, is due to the
A major domestic problem confronting the United States is directly related to accommodating a health policy for an influx of international refugees, regardless of their legal statuses. The current political climate combined with an increasing number of migrants globally requires extra attention to this policy issue. This topic is important to me because of my own inter-mixed Desi heritage where Pakistan is the second largest country to lead the intake of international refugees at an astounding 1.5 million individuals according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Only after understanding the importance of refugee health policy in American domestic affairs did I realize exactly how problematic this situation is for America in relation to my personal
The refugees went through orientation to American life in the camps before coming, but many of them still have to overcome huge obstacles (11). Having to not only speak but learn in a new language is challenging and the resources in the schools to help these students is slim because of budget cuts. The students are vulnerable to teasing due to their accents, foreign dress, and different cultural norms. Other students will mock the dress or call-out their Muslim classmates of being terrorists. This has long-term effects and damaging their confidence in themselves and their culture (7). The students are not able to seek support at home because both parents are usually working long hours to pay for
I have developed a personal standpoint a personal standpoint to demonstrate that I can identify, consider and form a personal opinion on a global issue.
This book draws on New Zealand’s unique approach to refugees in helping victims of war and conflicts by offering them a chance to start a new life. The author has extensively discussed the concern of refugees who are obliged to leave their homeland, escape war and persecution because of cultural or religion beliefs. In relation to social transformat...
An example of this is when Amela, a 17 year old refugee, explains, “... After I found out about my father’s death, everything seemed so useless.”(Brice 26) Here, Amela is suffering because someone close to her is gone because of war. Another example of this universal refugee experience is Ha, whose father, “left home on a navy mission… He was captured.”(Lai 12). Again, Ha lost a family member due to the war, proving this situation is universal across all refugees. In addition, she has also lost friends, her papaya tree, and her home. Another obstacle refugees face is discrimination within their new community, which is explained in “Refugee and Immigrant Children: A Comparison.” It says, “Both refugee and immigrant children may encounter society’s discrimination and racism.”(Fantino 9) Basically, when children come to a new country, it’s not rare for people to treat them differently because they’re different. We see this proven in Ha’s story. After coming home from a long day at school, Ha tells her mother, “They yell ‘Boo-Da Boo-Da’ at me. They pull my arm hair. They call me pancake face. They clap at me in class.”(Lai 215) Because Ha looks and speaks differently, many of the kids at her new school tease and bully her. It’s very common for refugees to lose the things they love, and in addition, must endure discrimination in their new community, which all results in their