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Families of refugees tend to evoke many powerful responses in all who come into contact with them. Loss and trauma, helplessness and victimhood, transition and change are some of the main themes that seem to dominate. In particular, in contact with mental health professionals, refugee families are more likely to be seen as ‘traumatized’ and their resilience less acknowledged. In this article I will endeavour to address some issues that contribute to this skewing of our perception of refugee families, especially in the context of supervision.

This article outlines some key elements of therapeutic work with a group of Bosnian medical evacuees and their families. The unusual feature of this work has been the fact that the clients had not requested any psychological assistance and the therapist had to adapt to this fact and develop ways of dealing with it. The approach followed emphasizes the importance of 'therapeutic presence' instead of imposing formal psychotherapy, and is characterized by an avoidance of psychologizing the evil nature of war atrocities and pathologizing political dimensions. Six central dilemmas which therapists and clients face in connection with this type of work are identified and discussed, and suggestions are offered for developing appropriate therapeutic strategies in these contexts.

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