The Breathing Space Project ‐ Working in Partnership
| Published date | 01 September 2002 |
| Pages | 15-18 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/13619322200200024 |
| Date | 01 September 2002 |
| Author | Martine Sandford |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
The Breathing Space Project –
Working in Partnership
Martine Sandford
Development Co-ordinator Advocacy and
Training
The Refugee Council
Case study
Refugees and mental health
A great deal of misunderstanding still exists over what
it is to be a refugee. A refugee is defined by
international law as ‘someone who is forced to leave
their own country, who escapes to another country and
is given refugee status by the government there’.
When an individual or family enters a ‘safe’ country
and requests its government to grant them refugee
status they are referred to as asylum seekers and are
deemed to be such for the time it takes the
government to consider their asylum claim.
The 1951 United Nations Convention relating to
the status of refugees states that to qualify for refugee
status an individual must prove that they have ‘a well
founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race,
religion, nationality, membership of a particular social
group or political opinion’. In this article the term
refugee will be used to refer to all persons who either
have refugee status or who are in the process of
seeking such status.
The experience of becoming a refugee carries a
high risk of developing mental health problems. Fear,
anxiety, distress and trauma are inevitably associated
with fleeing conflict, major political upheaval,
situations of torture, travelling across national borders
and settling in a different country. In addition, the
escape routes are themselves often unsafe and can
lead to further abuse and fear.
For the majority of refugees the continued process
of seeking asylum in a host country will not see the
end of feelings of fear, anxiety and distress. Social
isolation, poverty, language difficulties and uncertainty
are among some of the factors that have a
compounding negative effect on psychological health.
The refugee experience in the UK
The Government has an obligation to support asylum
seekers who are destitute while a decision is made
regarding their asylum claim. At present the
Government provides financial support which equates
to 70% of income support, and accommodation
provided on a no-choice basis away from London and
the south east. Due to the changes in the past ten
years and the duration of the decision-making process
there is a variety of systems currently operating for
refugees in the UK. The current system is a product of
the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999; the part of the
Home Office responsible for providing support is the
National Asylum Support Service (NASS).
The policy and practice of dispersal, housing
refugees in areas around the UK away from London,
has been operational since April 2000. There are now
50,000 people living in NASS-supported
accommodation. The cities and regions within the UK
which have received the largest numbers of refugees
are Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle,
Liverpool, Sheffield, Bradford, Nottingham and
Leeds.
Breathing Space Project – aims and objectives
In response to concern about the mental health needs
of refugees and how mental health issues are dealt
with in dispersal areas, the Refugee Council and the
Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture
came together to form the Breathing Space Project.
The project secured funding from the Camelot
Foundation and was established in April 2000 for a
three-year period.
The aims of the project are to:
The Mental Health Review Volume 7 Issue 3 September 2002 ©Pavilion Publishing (Brighton) 2002 15
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