Refugees and mental wellbeing. A call for community approaches in Aotearoa New Zealand
| Date | 16 July 2024 |
| Pages | 1-11 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/MHSI-04-2024-0049 |
| Published date | 16 July 2024 |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Mental health,Social inclusion |
| Author | Tula Brannelly,Anjali Bhatia,Arezoo Zarintaj Malihi,Lucie Vanderpyl,Buster Brennan,Leo Gonzalez Perez,Fahima Saeid,Eleanor Holroyd,Nadia Charania |
Refugees and mental wellbeing. A call
for community approaches in
Aotearoa New Zealand
Tula Brannelly, Anjali Bhatia, Arezoo Zarintaj Malihi, Lucie Vanderpyl, Buster Brennan,
Leo Gonzalez Perez, Fahima Saeid, Eleanor Holroyd and Nadia Charania
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to examine community based, trauma informed to support
refugee mentalhealth and wellbeing, recognising that refugeestatus is met through forced displacement
in which refugees have experience of personal human rights abuses and have survived atrocities in
which familyand community have been lost.
Design/methodology/approach –A co-productionapproach was taken to reviewexisting literature and
policy to producea position statement on how to better meet theneeds of people who experience mental
distress who are refugees.The co-production was between refugee and mental healthresearchers and
refugeerepresentatives.
Findings –Understanding the mental health needs of refugees has conventionally focused on incidence of
mental illness such as post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. If mental health and illness are understood
as a continuum, diagnosis of mental illness indicates a significant problem, and furthermore access to services is
predicated on risks associated with mental illness. When accessing mental health services, refugees have an
added issue in a lack of communication availability and recognition of the trauma that they have survived.
Originality/value –In this paper, a differentposition is advocated, that understandingthe mental health
of refugees can be framed more effectively as a process of recovery from trauma that emergesduring
resettlement, and over a long period of time before people are able to talk about the trauma they
experienced. Community-based responses that enable recovery from trauma are more readily able to
meet themental health and wellbeing needs of refugeecommunities.
Keywords Refugees, Mental health, Aotearoa New Zealand, Wellbeing, Trauma,
Community approach
Paper type Research paper
Introduction –the context
Linked to the trauma caused by forced migration, refugees unsurprisingly have higher
levels of diagnosable mental illness and face challenges accessing services. People who
have survived war and forced migration are more likely than the general population to
experience trauma which can continue for many years (Barbui et al., 2022;Bogic et al.,
2015). This article is concerned with the question of what approaches best meet the
wellbeing needs of refugee communities, if we consider that trauma recovery improves
wellbeing. In Aotearoa New Zealand, there is a dearth of research locally to understand
whether and how mental health needs are recognised and acted upon. This article
originated in a question about how the needs of refugee communities are met in Aotearoa
which raised a question of how best to meet the needs of these communities. The team of
community members and researchers identified this broader question about how support
the wellbeing of refugees.
(Informationabout the
authorscan be found at the
end of this article.)
©Tula Brannelly, Anjali Bhatia,
Arezoo Zarintaj Malihi, Lucie
Vanderpyl, Buster Brennan,
Leo Gonzalez Perez, Fahima
Saeid, Eleanor Holroyd and
Nadia Charania. Published by
Emerald Publishing Limited.
This article is published under
the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence.
Anyone may reproduce,
distribute, translate and create
derivative works of this article
(for both commercial and
non-commercial purposes),
subject to full
attribution to the original
publication and authors. The full
terms of thislicence may be seen
at http://creativecommons.org/
licences/by/4.0/legalcode
PAGE 20 jMENTAL HEALTH AND SOCIAL INCLUSION jVOL. 29 NO. 7 2025, pp. 20-30, EmeraldPublishing Limited, ISSN 2042-8308 DOI 10.1108/MHSI-04-2024-0049
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