NEWS RELEASE
July 7 2003
UniSA
uncovers mental health anguish for men with lives on hold
A program to
establish a mental health and suicide prevention strategy for refugees
from Afghanistan has revealed deep depression and distress among people
given only temporary protection in Australia.
The initiative,
headed by UniSA Associate Professor in mental health nursing Dr Nicholas
Procter, was established through the SA Department of Human Services
Country and Social Justice Division to offer support to the 75-strong
population of Afghan Hazara refugees who have been living and working in
Murray Bridge for almost three years.
Earlier this
year, one of the group, Dr Habib, suicided after receiving notification
that his temporary visa was being reviewed, sparking major concerns about
the mental health of the refugee community in Murray Bridge.
Dr Procter
will be speaking at an Australian Refugee Association forum on Refugee and
Asylum Seeker Issues at 14 King William Road, North Adelaide on July 8
2003 from 7 pm.
He says the
Murray Bridge program has revealed a depth of despair in the TPV-holder
refugee community that is hard for the average South Australian to
understand.
“These people
are living with a measure of dislocation from their world that is hard to
get a grip on,” Dr Procter said. “Already traumatised by persecution
in their homeland, they now live in a kind of ghastly Limbo where they
have no relationship to their future and feel an increasing distance from
their troubled past. The impermanence of their status in Australia adds to
their nightmare – they feel they can not plan a week or month in advance
– they can only imagine a dangerous future and this causes enormous
stress.”
Dr Procter has
been working with the group to create a full picture of their mental
health issues by listening to the nature of their fears, depression and
anxiety.
Part of his
project has been to develop composites of the stories the refugees tell
about how they are coping with life and Dr Procter says the stories paint
a bleak mental health picture.
An example
story includes the following account:
I
feel that I am being pushed to the edge of the world. Whenever I go
walking in Murray Bridge…I feel as if I am walking blindfolded on the
moon…. It is like being dead and alive at the same time… The worst
thing you can take from a human being is their hope…there is nothing
darker than black.
“They feel
alone, afraid, ostracised, sad, and doomed – their psychological world
is black,” he said.
“Many of the
men take medication to help them sleep as well as GP prescribed
anti-depressants and more than a few of them have seriously contemplated
suicide.”
Dr Procter says
the stories offer a powerful opportunity for mental health and general
health workers to understand the depth of the problems TPV holders face
and to become more informed and compassionate in their approach to
culturally and linguistically diverse communities.
“We hope the
project will highlight the need for health workers to genuinely engage
culturally and linguistically diverse communities (CALD) so as to be able
to respond to their real needs in an informed and sensitive way.”
He said goals
of the current consultancy included:
·
to encourage health care workers to learn directly from CALD
communities about their specific mental health issues, and their unique
culturally-based perspectives on mental health;
·
to engage CALD communities, including consumers and carers, in
learning about mental health by collaborating with health care providers
in the planning, evaluation and delivery of mental health care services
for their communities;
·
to encourage CALD communities, including consumers and carers, to
learn directly from each other about coping with mental health issues
including early intervention strategies to prevent problems by providing
practical help to members of their friendship network and family and
themselves;
·
to support CALD communities in developing their own network of
community mental health educators;
·
to add to existing forms of mental health education, networking and
information exchange and capacity building between mainstream mental
health and regional health service providers and CALD communities.
“This
kind of support will empower CALD communities and go some way to helping
individuals to cope with the anguish caused by their status as people with
‘temporary’ lives. At the end of the day though, affording them real
and permanent protection in Australia would go much further in healing
their hearts and minds.”
More
information: Dr Nicholas Procter 0417 080630
Media contact: Michèle Nardelli (08) 8302 0966 or 041 8823673
Need an expert? Find one at UniSA’s online
Directory of Experts - http://www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/MDU/MDU-search.asp
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