Mental Health Program

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Introduction:
The emergence of 9.9 million refugees that has been accumulated from all
over the world as recorded for the year 2006 was an eye opener towards
the presence of social crisis of the present day society. The United Nations
1951 Convention has developed an official definition of the term refugee
that explain a refuges as a person who is outside his/her country of
nationality or habitual residence; has a well founded fear of persecution
because of his/her race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular
social group or political opinion; and is unable or unwilling to avail
himself/herself of the protection of that country, or to return there, for fear of
persecution. Considering the Australian scenario with respect to refugee
settlements it was observed that on humanitarian ground Australia
sheltered more than 750,000 immigrants from all over the country since
1947. Victoria has been the home for thousands of refugees and asylum
seekers in the previous thirty years of the history of Australian community.
In consideration with the Humanitarian Program Victoria was been the
shelter provider from 44,880 refugees who have arrived to the city for last
one decade.
The Family Migration Program and Skilled Migration Stream can be cited
as initiatives that are in alignment with the Humanitarian Program. Hence
although the country has welcomed a huge population of refugees from all
over the world but a number of social and cultural aspects are found to
exert an adverse affect on the overall mental health of the refugees and the
asylum seekers. The subsequent segments of this essay shall focus to
understand the underlying socio-cultural factor that has been reflected in
the mental health status of the refugees.

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Key challenges with respect to refugee settlements:

Although providing shelter to the refugees can be considered to be an

ethically justified act but a number of challenges are found to surface in
parallel with this issue. It is can established fact that people who has to
leave the native country and had to seek for resettlement in foreign nation
are exposed to a high degree of trauma and directly and adversely
influence the mental health of such group of individuals. Traumatic effects
including post traumatic effects of war, separation from family members,
the existence of human rights abuse, journey related trauma and trauma
from physical and psychological torture can be highlighted as the major
challenges in this respect. Apart from this the aspects like prolonged
deprivation faced by the refugees in the refugee camps with minimal
access to a healthy living, presence of safe shelter, adequate drinking
water, food supply and provisions for primary health care are also
considered to contribute in the gradual deterioration of the mental health of
the refugees. Lack of employment facilities and inadequacy with respect
education of the refuges children can also be included as the major
challenges with respect to the topic of discussion.

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Psychological experiences of the refugees:

An insight into the psychological experience that has been prominent within
the refugees it has been segmented into three main types of experiences:
the preflight experience, the flight experience and the resettlement
experience. The presence of physical and psychology theory disturbances
or trauma with being witnessed of criminal activities like murder and other
social abuse can be included within the pre flight experience of the
refugees. On the contrary the flight experience and the experience of
resettlement can be considered as the experience obtained from the
extensive and stressful travels, undesirable event in the refugee camps.
Also separation of the children from their parents, loss of culture and
adaptation to a completely new environment are also included under the
resettlement experience of refugees. The presence of language barrier can
also be cited as one of the major resettlement experience of the refugees.

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The socio-cultural factors responsible for mental health

deterioration of the refugees:

The clear indication of the incidents of social isolation based on racism and
discrimination has been one of the major reasons behind the degrading
mental health of the refugees. It is also observed that the presence of
prolonged anxiety, uncertainty, safety issues and absence of family support
has also exerted a gradual yet deep impact on the mental framework of the
refugee population. Another aspect that should be highlighted in context of
the discussion is the presence of huge cultural diversity has also influenced
the mental health care managementsuch group of population. As people
from different countries are found to migrate to a country as accumulate as
refugees huge cultural variation is observed within the refugee population.
This cultural diversity has been considered to be a major setback with
respect to the adjustments issues of the refugees and also directly
influence their mental health. Hence cultural dislocation and lack
of financial analysis support has contributed towards the mental trauma
that has subsequently affected the mental status of the refugees. Exploring
the psychological impacts of the refugees clear indication of trauma related
syndromes inclusive of distress, avoidance, persistent feeling of sadness,

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loneliness, emotional numbing, hyper arousal, presence of intrusive

thoughts are clearly evident.
Studies have also supported the presence of a connection between pre
migration trauma and mental health in resettlement with respect to the
mental setup of the refugees. Often the incidents of forced migration are
also considered as a causal factor that affected the mental health of the
refugees and asylum seekers. The prevalence of Post traumatic Stress
Disorder or PTSD along with feeling of depression, guilt and anger are also
observed among the mentally unbalanced refugee population. About 1040% of the refugees are found to reflect the symptoms of PTSD while 5090% of the children and adolescent population are found to become
susceptible towards this particular mental syndrome. The post
displacement factors particularly social isolation, identity crisis due to
absence of employment and financial support, presence of inadequate
justice towards the refugees can be enlisted as the other social factors
contributing to the deteriorated mental health situation of the refugees.
However the issue of interaction with the near environment study and
adjustments to a new geographical location along with cultural relocation
has also been pivotal socio-cultural factors in this respect. The presence of
ethnic minority groups within the refugee population can also be highlighted
with respect to the topic of discussion. Hence with reference to the social
model of Acculturation the ethnic minority groups are considered as an
isolated group from the larger community.
Apart from the above mentioned factors that are considered as the prime
causal factors in degrading the mental health of the refugees it is also
important to mention the contribution of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
towards the improper cognitive functioning of the refugees. Additionally the
present of physical injuries like brain injury, malnutrition, psychological
distress particularly depression has resulted in the occurrence of
neuropsychological abnormalities adversely affecting the mental status of
the refugees.

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Mental health programs for the refugees:

Exploring the present scenario of Australia with respect to the mental
health improvements of the refuges the care services are delivered under
the initiative of the governing body of Australia whereby such services are
provided by the Adult Multicultural Education Services or AMES, the Red
Cross and Life without Barriers and the AMES Humanitarian Settlement
Services Consortium. Hence in order to improve the overall mental health
of the refugees the Governing body of Victoria has emphasized on
implementation of specialist clinical mental health services with a
community based support service. The facilities for counseling the
survivors of trauma under the administration of the Victorian Foundation for
Survivors of Torture can be cited in this regard. This particular organization
also known as the Foundation House has provided specialized counseling
services to the refugees who have become the victims of trauma and
torture. The state governing body of Victoria, the Commonwealth
Government and the philanthropic trust organizations are the main funding
source supporting the mental healthcare services that are provided by the
various organizations. Apart from this the initiatives undertaken by the
Refugee Health Program, Refugee Health Fellow Program and the
Victorian Refuge Health Network can be put forwarded that has
considerable emphasize on improving the mental health of the refugees
and asylum seekers of Australia. The installation of the interpreting service
in order to remove the constraints faced due to language barrier has
contributed to better accessibility of the refugees. The example of Health
Translation website can be cited in this respect.
Therefore with reference to the above cited examples it is justified to
mention that the Australian government has given considerable importance
regarding the mental health issues of the refugees and asylum seekers
whereby an initiative to deliver the optimal healthcare services to the
refugees has proven to produce positive results.

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Conclusion:
To conclude it is justified to mention that the mental health of the refugees
are observed to be negatively affected by a number of social and cultural
factors wherein the psychological assessment of the refugees is not yet
properly developed. Therefore understanding the present scenario with
respect to the mental health situation of the refugees it is important to
emphasis on the proper psychological theory assessment. The practice of
disability evaluation along with medical evaluation of the mental health
status of the refugees is important to improve the overall mental health of
such population. Finally it can be inferred that in order to improve the
mental health situation of the refugees it is important to completely
eliminate the practice of social discrimination, racism and the practice of
isolation based on cultural diversity. However emphasis is required to
restore the balance between the mental and physical health issues of the
refugees and this can be addressed with focus on reducing the occurrence
of disease along with emphasis on the health promotional activities.

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