Ms Tahereh Fardin Tabrizi:

I would like to add to all the valid points my colleagues have raised. We need to realise that sometimes the services are there, but the approach most of the services take deters the service users. For example, when refugees or asylum seekers arrive here, nobody looks at their strength in how they have come through that difficult journey. They might have escaped war or torture. They might have escaped a very difficult journey on their way here, because migration is a highly stressful experience, even when it is planned and sought after. This is the experience that has been voiced to us by many of the clients. The approach is sometimes individualised, whereas in many of the cultures where the migrants come from, there is a collective approach.

To add to Ms Marchelewska’s point about being far away from the community, that is a huge factor for them. It adds to the mental health conditions. Sometimes, even though we want to help them, we might fall into that trap as well. The person becomes aggressive and agitated as a result of not receiving the kind of style that he or she is used to. That can lead to many different issues, such as domestic violence taking place in the direct provision, DP, centres. Also, the conditions in the DP centres themselves lead to a lot of those conditions. Sometimes we have to look at it as a strength-based model versus the deficit model. Rather than teaching them to go and wait for the fish, we need to teach them to catch the fish.