AIFS seminar series presentation

Louise Newman is the Professor of Developmental Psychiatry and Director of the Centre for Developmental Psychiatry & Psychology, Monash University.

In January 2011 she was appointed as a Member in the General Division of the Order of Australia.

She is a practising infant psychiatrist with expertise in the area of disorders of early parenting and attachment difficulties in infants. She has undertaken research into the issues confronting parents with histories of early trauma and neglect.

She is the Convenor of the Alliance of Health Professions for Asylum Seekers and an advocate for the rights of asylum seekers and refugees. She is the Chair of the Detention Expert Health Advisory Group an independent body providing advice to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship on the heath needs of asylum seekers. She has been involved in research into the impact of immigration detention on child asylum seekers.

ABSTRACT

Under Australian immigration law, all so-called ‘unauthorised’ arrivals are required to be detained in secure facilities until resolution of asylum claims.  Detention may be indefinite and applies to children, survivors of torture and trauma and unaccompanied minors.  Mandatory detention has impacted on more than 20,000 adults and children since its introduction in 1992 and is now linked with off shore processing on Christmas Island.

Asylum seekers are a particularly vulnerable group with significant levels of pre-migration trauma, loss and exposure to violence.  Children and young people have experienced attachment disruption, traumatic exposure and the impact of parental and family breakdown.  Around 50% of child asylum seekers in Australia are unaccompanied minors without adult carers.

The impact of immigration detention on mental health has been well documented with findings of deterioration in mental health related to time in detention.  Depression, anxiety and post-traumatic symptoms are common and children demonstrate attachment and developmental disorders.

The debate surrounding Australian response to asylum seekers and refugees has highlighted the relationship between basic human rights and mental health and the duty to protect vulnerable groups.

The need for trauma responsive services and community processing of asylum claims is high priority and current research is looking at better identification of high-risk young refugees and families, and the process of psychosocial adaptation and recovery.