Trauma-Informing the Asylum Process .Guidelines and Recommendations Co-developed with Young People Seeking Asylum

Abstract

Unaccompanied children and young people seeking asylum in the UK experience hardships and challenges when accessing support, social services and applying for asylum. Navigating the asylum system and the asylum process itself can negatively impact the mental health of young people seeking asylum, in some cases it can even cause trauma or re-traumatise them. This report draws on empirical findings based on young people’s lived experience of the UK’s asylum
process. Participatory and co-production methods were used to compile a set of trauma-informed practice (TIP) guidelines and recommendations applicable to the asylum process. The main factors causing significant concern for the young people were linked to lack of knowledge regarding their rights and access to support, legal complexities of the asylum system, uncertainty about the asylum process and lengthy delays in decisions on their asylum claims. Often, trauma was linked to language-, cultural- and social barriers faced by the young people seeking asylum intensifying experiences of stigma and social isolation.

Key TIP guidelines and recommendations were developed for the asylum process as a whole. These include the need to build trust relations between asylum claimants and professionals in the system, promote humane and compassionate engagement with persons seeking asylum, and give voice and agency to asylum claimants throughout the asylum process. Moreover, the TIP guidelines focus
on the importance of sensitivity to culture and gender of asylum applicants, and the urgency for the asylum process to be more transparent regarding the progress of claims. Most importantly, all relevant professionals in the asylum
system should be mindful of, and responsive to, the mental health and trauma suffered by persons seeking asylum.

The asylum substantive interview, in particular, was experienced to be lacking a trauma-sensitive approach. For the asylum interview to be trauma-sensitive, some crucial TIP guidelines need to be followed. The interview process needs to be gender- and culture-sensitive and Home Office caseworkers need be aware of, and responsive to, the cultural background of the asylum claimant. Moreover, in order for the asylum interview to be trauma-sensitive, Home Office interviewers need to be mindful about how trauma can affect the asylum claimant’s storytelling and memory, and most importantly, they should show compassion and empathy towards persons seeking asylum, rather than adopt a cold, formal manner.

In order for these trauma-informed guidelines to be effectively pursued in practice, we make a set of recommendations:
1. Organisations working with persons seeking asylum should embed training on TIP principles in the work of all relevant professionals.
2. Mechanisms and structures must be in place to effectively monitor and evaluate the extent to which TIP is achieved in practice.
3. The content and delivery of trauma-informed practice should be informed by the lived experience of persons seeking asylum themselves.
4. Organisations supporting unaccompanied children and young people seeking asylum should develop a joined-up approach to working with, and listening to, this vulnerable population.
5. Organisations should change their culture to allow for effective implementation of TIP guidelines.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Ingi Iusmen: orcid.org/0000-0001-6658-0667

ORCID for Jana Kreppner: orcid.org/0000-0003-3527-9083

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