By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
THE first base for effective trauma work is that the client needs to feel safe says the manager of a torture-survivor counselling service in Dandenong.
Foundation House’s south-east team of counsellors, psychologists, social workers, masseurs and naturopaths is busy helping to heal the mental wounds of asylum seekers and refugees.
But that place of safety is elusive for many of them.
“If you don’t have enough to live on, to feed the kids and having a roof over your head, it makes life very difficult,” service manager Roslyn Leary said.
“The added pressure for asylum seekers is that they’re living with uncertainty.
“They could be deported, or whether their claims for refugee status will be upheld.
“Even if they’re found to be a refugee, there’s no certainty that they can stay. They’re only given temporary visas and they can’t bring their family.”
Ms Leary said many of the team’s clients suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, high-anxiety, significant depression and complex trauma.
They were also anxious for the safety of the families they have left behind.
Foundation House specialists try to help people move through these barriers and get on with their lives.
Counsellors talk through the problems while masseurs and naturopaths try to unknot the physical trauma due to torture and rape.
“Their body remembers the trauma,” Ms Leary said.
“The pain continues beyond, when there can’t be a reason for ongoing pain.”
Occasionally a small number benefit greatly from being given insight into their condition.
But for most it is a slow and long process because it takes time for counsellors to win trust.
One barrier for people of non-Western cultures is the stigma surrounding mental health issues.
“The implication is that they’re crazy. It’s not true at all.
“Their presentation – having paralysing anxiety and being excessively depressed – is a normal reaction to traumatic events.”
