Refugee Supports
You are forced to leave your home country for reasons of war and persecution. The pain you felt when you were home follows you in different ways. You may have walked for days with no food or water to the nearest bordering country or crossed through treacherous jungle or desert land to find refuge. You may have lived months and even years in a refugee camp or in a transition country as you await the UN to process your claim.
The conditions are hard, sometimes your children cannot attend school or if they do they are persecuted and met with bad experiences. The camps are baron and getting enough food to eat for the day can be a challenge. When you finally learn that you will be assisted to move to a country such as Canada, there is hope that things will get better and a hope for your family and children's future.
You may be surprised at being met with continued hardship as you first experience the cold weather, learning a new language, hearing about the ongoing tragedies in your home country, adjusting to the new culture, and experiencing isolation in many form in your neighbourhood or community.
You have family members who are missing, maybe they have died, maybe they are still living in a dangerous situation and you think of them all the time. Concentration and focus are impossible at times. You are attending school to learn the language and every time you hear a loud noise or a sudden siren you are thrown into a state of fear and uncertainty.
You would like to go outside and take a walk to clear your head, but the frigid weather is something you have never experienced and you fear you might get lost. The things you mastered before, such as being a teacher, a nurse, a farmer are now difficult or impossible as you navigate the foreign systems and find your skills are not recognized in this new environment.
Your children's school is calling you concerned because they are getting into fights or absent for too many days. Your child is telling you they don't want to go back to school, that they have a headache, a stomach ache, or they don't like it- anything hoping they can stay home. You are arguing with them and you are feeling so much stress. You hoped moving to Canada was going to be easier but in so many ways it is not.
The conditions are hard, sometimes your children cannot attend school or if they do they are persecuted and met with bad experiences. The camps are baron and getting enough food to eat for the day can be a challenge. When you finally learn that you will be assisted to move to a country such as Canada, there is hope that things will get better and a hope for your family and children's future.
You may be surprised at being met with continued hardship as you first experience the cold weather, learning a new language, hearing about the ongoing tragedies in your home country, adjusting to the new culture, and experiencing isolation in many form in your neighbourhood or community.
You have family members who are missing, maybe they have died, maybe they are still living in a dangerous situation and you think of them all the time. Concentration and focus are impossible at times. You are attending school to learn the language and every time you hear a loud noise or a sudden siren you are thrown into a state of fear and uncertainty.
You would like to go outside and take a walk to clear your head, but the frigid weather is something you have never experienced and you fear you might get lost. The things you mastered before, such as being a teacher, a nurse, a farmer are now difficult or impossible as you navigate the foreign systems and find your skills are not recognized in this new environment.
Your children's school is calling you concerned because they are getting into fights or absent for too many days. Your child is telling you they don't want to go back to school, that they have a headache, a stomach ache, or they don't like it- anything hoping they can stay home. You are arguing with them and you are feeling so much stress. You hoped moving to Canada was going to be easier but in so many ways it is not.
This is your situation now, how is counselling going to change anything?
How is this going to help when your biggest problem is finding ways to bring in more money or to find more adequate housing? How is counselling going to help when your biggest problem is not being able to concentrate enough to learn the language?
Refugee Counselling
Foundational to supporting a family who has experienced refugee trauma, who is now adjusting to a new culture, is a collaborative approach of caring people.
- Bridging together Immigrant Serving Agencies who can provide a multitude of specialized supports and services for newcomer families,
- Facilitating connections to established ethnic communities (when needed)
- Connecting different family members to social and recreational supports
- Connecting families to specialized healthcare professionals as needed, including mental health supports
Four Main things to work on:
Building trust - knowing there is someone who is on your side and has you and your family's best interest at heart
Establishing safety within self and in your environment- advocacy on some of the issues and problems that are most pressing and learning to create more feelings of safety in your life
Building resources- knowing and growing the supportive people, places, things, thoughts, and feelings that you have at this time
Cultivating Hope- hope that things will continue to change for the better and more opportunities will arise
The first thing is knowing you can trust your counsellor to be on your side and provide a compassionate space to witness your experience. Building trust and safety is so important to making a positive change. In my practice, working with caring and professional interpreters has been key when supporting refugee families.
Secondly establishing a sense of safety.
Feeling safe= more focus, more concentration= more learning, more learning = more success.
After enduring so many hardships our bodies are wired to deal with unsafe situations. This is part of how we as humans survive. Sometimes the body and the systems get so used to being in survival mode that they have trouble turning that system off. But being able to turn those systems off when we are not in immediate danger is so important because it allows us to recover, rest, and focus on other tasks such as learning and planning. Teaching your body to start to feel safe will be an important part of our work together.
We will work on resources:
Establishing safety within self and in your environment- advocacy on some of the issues and problems that are most pressing and learning to create more feelings of safety in your life
Building resources- knowing and growing the supportive people, places, things, thoughts, and feelings that you have at this time
Cultivating Hope- hope that things will continue to change for the better and more opportunities will arise
The first thing is knowing you can trust your counsellor to be on your side and provide a compassionate space to witness your experience. Building trust and safety is so important to making a positive change. In my practice, working with caring and professional interpreters has been key when supporting refugee families.
Secondly establishing a sense of safety.
Feeling safe= more focus, more concentration= more learning, more learning = more success.
After enduring so many hardships our bodies are wired to deal with unsafe situations. This is part of how we as humans survive. Sometimes the body and the systems get so used to being in survival mode that they have trouble turning that system off. But being able to turn those systems off when we are not in immediate danger is so important because it allows us to recover, rest, and focus on other tasks such as learning and planning. Teaching your body to start to feel safe will be an important part of our work together.
We will work on resources:
- Teaching you about what values, strengths, and skills helped you in your journey to Canada
- Learning how each family member brings many resources that your family has to survive and thrive
- Help parents communicate with their children as they blend new cultural experiences with traditional
- Highlight the supports in your family and their role in giving your family hope for a brighter future
Are you a professional working with a newcomer family?
Consultation available to support you with best practices, resources, things to consider.
What are some best practices when using an interpreter?
What are some considerations around location and appointment times?
What are some best practices when using an interpreter?
What are some considerations around location and appointment times?
