Levent Küey, Turkey
Istanbul Bilgi University PsychologyPresenter of 2 Presentations
Forcibly Displaced People (Refugees, Asylum Seekers) and Mental Health: Basic Knowledge and Skills for Mental Health Workers
Do Asylum Seekers and Refugees Need Specialised Services? Pitfalls and Challenges of Mental Health Care for Asylum Seekers and Refugees. Status Quo in Europe - S067
Abstract
Abstract Body
This article discusses a current dilemma in the mental health care for refugees and asylum seekers: specialized or mainstream services?
The last decade had witnessed an increasing number of forcibly displaced people settling in European countries. Many are in the status of refugees, fewer in asylum seeking status. The integration process also includes mental health issues. Accordingly, health and mental health care systems are facing a dilemma: whether constructing new specialized services for refugees and asylum seekers or integrating such services into the mainstream services.
Creating special services has the advantage of responding to the unique needs of this population groups. The high prevalence of complex traumas and related complex mental disorders shape a series of special mental health needs. On the other hand, such special services have a risk of marginalizing refugees and asylum seekers.
However, organizing mental health care for refugees and asylum seekers in the mainstream health services faces a different challenge: how to respond the unique needs of this population groups becomes a crucial question. Training of the already available health / mental health personnel, or the health personnel who themselves are refugees are some of the solutions practiced so far.
This is not only a process of facing new problems but also opens the doors for a more multi-cultural milieu both for the receiving society and the refugees, also in the fields of health and mental health. It is also an opportunity of co-creating new ways and models of improving more culturally competent health systems.