then might be the implications for therapeutic practice? What if writing became a circular process? For many systemic practitioners, the
experience of meeting and engaging someone therapeutically is like peering ‘through a glass darkly’. Not that this experience is much different to when we meet any stranger. Prior to any interaction, we do not know them at all; if we did then they wouldn’t be strangers. ‘Not knowing’ then becomes not a position to take, but a fairly accurate description of our situation and context…
References Dickson, G. (1971) Tactics of Mistake. New York: Doubleday. Bateson, G. & Bateson, M.C. (1987) Angels Fear: Towards an Epistemology of the Sacred. New York: Macmillan. Cade, B. & O’Hanlon, W.H. (1993) A Brief Guide to Brief Therapy. New York: Norton. Deligny, F. (2015) The Arachnean and Other Texts. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. Gans, S. & Redler, L. (2001) Just Listening: Ethics and Therapy. Bloomington: Xlibris Laing, R.D. (1967) The Politics of Experience and The Bird of Paradise. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Thinking about engagement and joining with asylum seeking and refugee families Matthew Hodes
This article is about engagement and joining with asylum seekers and refugee families. It mainly addresses engagement, that is, making connections and links with families who have experienced high levels of displacement, loss and traumatic events. Joining with the family in terms of making a connection and accommodating to the family rules is part of this process but extends for the duration of the therapy. This article is necessarily very selective, and focuses on working in mental health settings. Some references for further exploration of the topic are provided.
Learning about asylum seekers’ and refugees’ backgrounds and lives
While everyone will have some awareness
David retired from working within statutory agencies in 2014 since when he has been developing a love for living. In these ‘freedom years’ David has discovered an affi nity with nature helped by Tracy his wife and Bessie their three-legged collie. Walking locally in woods and green spaces has provided much sustenance for generating radical ideas. David continues his systemic interests through much voluntary work with families aff ected by their child’s special needs, especially through his ‘Advocates for ADHD and Autism (Derby)’ group.
of the plight of asylum seekers and refugees, it is worthwhile at the outset to defi ne the main terms, and consider the social implications of these legal terms. A refugee is a person who leaves his or her country because of well-founded fears of persecution on grounds of race, religion, nationality, or membership of a particular social group. An asylum seeker is a person who has leſt his or her country of origin and formally applied for asylum in another country but whose application has not yet been concluded (UNHCR, 2000). A minority of refugees will have obtained this status soon aſt er displacement and prior to arrival in reset lement countries. Asylum seekers may have experienced very diffi cult and traumatic journeys, and arrival in reset lement countries may result in continuation of very stressful and oſt en abusive experiences (for the UK situation, a useful website is provided by the Refugee Council see ht ps://www.
refugeecouncil.org.uk/information/refugee- asylum-facts/) and globally see UNHCR at ht ps://
www.unhcr.org/uk) . Some of the eff ects of asylum seeking and refugee experiences on family life are described elsewhere (Hodes & Hussain, 2020).
Context 169, June 2020 Given the great diversity of cultural
background that asylum seekers and refugees come from, it will be easier to achieve some familiarity with the backgrounds of those from specifi c communities. Guides have been prepared for this purpose regarding Syrian refugees, many of whom have come to the UK and other reset lement countries (Hassan et al., 2015). What is more important is cultural competence, in which there is a stance of openness and willingness to learn (Adamson et al., 2011; Dogra et al., 2007). One important aspect of asylum seekers’
lives that clinicians need to be aware of is that we are increasingly living in a hostile environment, a culture of disbelief. T ey may have experienced repeated interviewing by immigration offi cials, and live with uncertain legal status, oſt en with high mobility, social isolation, and enforced fi nancial hardship as they are not allowed to work until they have leave to remain (Hodes et al., 2018).
Thinking about the referral T e background experiences of war and
organised violence and migration with stressors experienced aſt er reset lement are associated with increased rates of psychological distress and disorder (Hodes & Hussain, 2020). While most asylum seekers and refugees do not need to access
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Thinking about engagement and joining with asylum seeking and refugee families
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