A mental health worker is being appointed to help asylum seekers who are suffering post-traumatic stress, amid mounting evidence that many are in need of psychiatric help.
In one of the first moves of its kind, Plymouth primary care trust (PCT) will appoint a community psychiatric nurse to work with asylum seekers sent to the city under Home Office dispersal plans. The city at present has some 400 asylum seekers, mainly Kurdish men, but a further 400 families are due to arrive over the next few weeks.
The appointment is being welcomed by welfare organisations working with refugees who have often lost their loved ones and may be plagued by memories of persecution. Left to fend for themselves in an alien culture, some have attempted suicide, according to workers at Plymouth support group Refugees First.
Newzat Kret Rashid is an Arab Iraqi asylum seeker who married his wife against the wishes of her family. He claims that the family has links with the Iraqi government and intelligence service and that he was arrested and tortured, having a drill driven into his leg. Weeks previously, his wife had been shot and their baby son murdered at the family home.
"Around 1.30am, while my wife and babies slept, I was woken by gunshots," Rashid recalls. "The room appeared to be sprayed with bullets and after a few seconds I heard the sound of feet running down the steps and away from our home. I was gripped by fear and found my wife bleeding profusely. My four-month-old baby, Aras, was dead from a head wound to the chest. My other baby had been sheltered from the bullets and I had, too, by my wife's body."
He took his wife to hospital and reported the shooting to the police. But two weeks later, he says, he was seized by the intelligence service, tortured and ordered to retract his statement. His experiences prompted him to join an opposition party and he was forced to flee the country after distributing leaflets opposing the regime.
When Rashid applied recently for asylum in Britain, however, he was refused. He went into a deep spiral of depression. His wife is still in Iraq and he cannot contact her.
Ratna Lachman, manager of Refugees First, says that many people are refused refugee status because they handle their applications badly. "A lot of them botch up the interview and that's what happened with Newzat," she says. "He didn't have the appropriate support. If he goes back to Iraq, his life will be in danger - as will that of his family. So it's important that the health service and Home Office recognise the importance of mental health in the assessment process."
It is hoped that the new mental health worker will be able to offer asylum seekers the support they need before they hit a crisis. The nurse will work closely with Refugees First to overcome language and cultural barriers.
These barriers are not to be underestimated, according to Phil Confue, director of mental health for Plymouth PCT. He says social isolation is a key trigger of mental illness. "Relocating into a different country, where you are dislocated from your community, makes people's susceptibility to mental illness much higher," he says. "Many may have post-traumatic stress disorder. Their children have been shot or they have seen horrific scenes. On top of that they have undergone long journeys in terrible conditions to get here."
The drawn-out procedure of processing asylum claims, and the subsistence allowance of just £30 a week given to asylum seekers, only exacerbates any health problems, according to the Refugee Council, the leading national agency in the field. "Mental health needs are not helped by the system," says spokeswoman Jean Candler. "Often they are missed because a person's first concern is to get a lawyer and somewhere to live. We're pleased to hear that Plymouth is developing this."
Next month's arrival of the mental health worker is eagerly awaited by Refugees First, which is helping Rashid re-apply for refugee status. However, Lachman says the NHS needs to do more for its clients, including training for GPs, introducing befrienders for asylum seekers and offering counselling at community centres. "Having a mental heath worker will be the first step in giving people the support they need," Lachman says.
