Mental health of young asylum seekers and refugees in the context of COVID-19

Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH)

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.21352
In this podcast, we are joined by Dr. Matthew Hodes, Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Imperial College London.
The focus of this podcast is on the mental health of young refugees and asylum seekers.
To set the scene, Matthew starts by providing us with a brief introduction of how he came to be interested in the mental health of young refugees and asylum seekers and comments on the impact of psychological distress and psychiatric disorder as it relates to child and young asylum seekers and refugees.
Matthew discusses his Editorial Perspective, published in the CAMH, on the mental health of young asylum seekers and refugees in the context of COVID-19, and provides insight into what additional burdens the pandemic has posed to child and adolescent asylum seekers and refugees.
With his Editorial Perspective having suggested that services are increasingly inadequate for asylum seekers and refugees, Matthew comments on access to and provision of services for asylum seekers and refugees, as well as the types of barriers and challenges that affect this group.
Matthew then discusses what he has learnt from his experience as a practitioner, and from evidence-based research, in terms of need and best practice when it comes to the mental wellbeing of child and adolescent refugees and asylum seekers, plus shares his advice for CAMH professionals working with this group.
Having touched on hostile government policies, Matthew also comments on what socioeconomic interventions are known to support young asylum seekers and refugees and shares his message to policy makers.
Furthermore, with ‘Healing’ as the theme of Refugee Week 2022 (20 – 26 June), Matthew comments on how optimistic he is that healing is possible for dislocated children and young people.