Refugee team takes mental health award
An Auckland mental health team has lifted a top Trans-Tasman award for its work with refugees.
Trustline, November 2010
The Refugee Mobile Team, run by Refugees as Survivors New Zealand (RASNZ), was singled out for the Achievement Award at this year’s TheMHS 2010 conference, held in Sydney in September, for its innovation and excellence.
More than a thousand clinicians, researchers, educators, and family representatives attended the conference, where the team’s clinical manager, Surpreet Cheema, and Community Link Worker Priscilla Dawson stepped forward to accept the award.
“RASNZ is New Zealand’s specialist health agency for all incoming United Nations quota and convention refugees, and provider of a range of vital mental health, treatment, rehabilitation, youth, research and community development services,” says Gary Poole, CEO of RASNZ. “We put together the Refugee Mobile Team as a multidisciplinary, specialist mobile mental health team working with traumatised refugees, taking service directly into their communities.
“In this way we are able to provide culturally responsive mental health care within the community and reduce transport, language and other barriers to allow access and increase positive outcomes.”
Surpreet says many refugees are traumatised survivors of torture, in need of rehabilitation and recovery, who are beginning new lives in a new country.
“Up to 70% of the 40,000 former refugees who have resettled in Aotearoa New Zealand live in Auckland. A significant proportion are trauma survivors and about 20% have been the victims of torture,” she says. “Until the Refugee Mobile Team was launched in 2007, many of these people did not have access to mental health treatment that would contribute to vital healing and improved resettlement outcomes.”
The Refugee Mobile Team brings together specialist psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, body therapists and refugee community link workers to provide mental health treatment, early clinical intervention, preventive care and practical grassroots support to refugees at community venues, or in their own homes.
A grant from ASB Community trust has helped fund the programme, and also paid for an independent evaluation.
Surpreet says that evaluation clearly shows substantial and sustained improvement in mental health and settlement outcomes, with positive feedback from service users, family members, refugee community leaders, community mental health centers and medical practitioners.
“The Community Link Worker role was seen as being critical by all stakeholders. The link workers provide vital credibility and links into the multiple refugee communities that could never be achieved through any other means.”
There were also hard clinical outcome measures pre- and post-treatment, applying internationally accepted measures,” she says. “Feedback from refugee service users, family members and key informants was excellent. Hard clinical outcome measures confirmed substantial and sustained improvement in mental health and settlement outcomes.”
www.rasnz.co.nz