Between a Rock and a Hard place: a Trauma-Informed Approach to Documenting the Traumatic Experiences of Tamil Refugees

Abstract

Refugees and asylum seekers typically experience dislocation, persecution, and significant cultural adjustments, making them highly vulnerable populations that deserve more attention from helping professionals. As a profession grounded in human rights and committed to serving disenfranchised populations, social work is well situated to attend to the needs of refugees, asylum seekers, and other displaced populations. These populations often experience multiple forms of trauma from their own governments as well as from rebel forces. This project models a trauma-informed approach to research using an assessment tool tailored to the South Asian Tamil population. Data are presented on the traumatic experiences and related sequelae for 30 Tamils living in the USA and Canada. The majority experienced multiple traumatic events including lack of food or clean water, being displaced, lack of shelter, ill health without access to medical care, murder of a family member or someone known, being detained, and beatings. Most respondents reported dwelling on their traumatic experiences, feeling as though they were happening again, feeling hopeless, recurrent bad dreams, and having less interest in daily activities. The data presented here can inform helping professionals about the lived experiences of this population. Considerations for helping professionals working with this population are included.

Interventions Supporting the Social Integration of Refugee Children and Youth in School Communities: A Review of the Literature

“…Experiences of trauma occur in multiple forms and are not limited to circumstances in refugees' countries of origin; trauma experiences can occur across pre-migration, migration, and resettlement periods (Weaver, 2016). Examples of pre-migration and migration trauma common to refugee experiences include lack of food or clean water, being displaced, lack of shelter, ill health without access to proper medical care, murder of a family member or other loved one, being detained or beaten, and witnessing war or violence (Sullivan & Simonson, 2016;Weaver, 2016). Once refugee families are resettled in a country of origin, they may also experience psychological distress resulting from the difficulties of integrating into a new culture.…”

“…Common child and adolescent responses to trauma may include fear, anger, irritability, sadness, apathy, inattention, anxiety, disrupted sleep, struggling in school, and somatic complaints, such as stomachaches and headaches (Sullivan & Simonson, 2016). In a study conducted with Tamil refugees, most respondents reported that effects of their trauma experiences lingering after migration and resettlement included dwelling at length on their experiences, feeling hopeless, having recurring nightmares, and experiencing retraumatization as a result of triggers (Weaver, 2016). These responses reflect long-term behavioral and emotional effects of experiencing trauma, and they also reflect the brain's responses to trauma, even long after the traumatic event has actually occurred (Van der Kolk, 2014).…”

“…These triggered bodily responses to trauma provide an adaptive and protective function at the time of the traumatic event; however, once these responses have become highly sensitive, similar reactions can be triggered again in situations that may seem similar but are not actually threatening. As a result, circumstances that recurrently trigger a response to distress can disrupt a person's day-today functioning (Nelson et al, 2014;Weaver, 2016).…”

Lethal hopelessness: Understanding and responding to asylum seeker distress and mental deterioration

“…In clinical practice, avoid a response to individuals feeling they are trapped or ‘boxed in’ along the lines of, ‘ You will just have to make things work, get over it, won't you?’ A trauma‐informed response (Weaver ) would be something like, ‘ When you say I can't live like this, I can't take this anymore, what is the this?’ Deeper dialogue and engagement between individuals leading to a redefining of the problem in alternate terms – for example, as a need to do something to stop excruciating psychological pain and anguish – is a strategy worthy of consideration (Procter ). The aim is to begin trying to diffuse the source of the person's constricted focus on one single outcome or solution (death) (Anderson ; Border Crossing Observatory ; Davey ; Doherty & Hekmat ; Hekmat ; Laughland ; Milligan ; Shine ), thus creating a space for the person to shift, albeit temporarily, from their experience of unbearable injustice enough to help them think about alternatives to killing themselves (Procter ).…”

Orientation, Parent Engagement, Tutoring, Summer Programs, and College Support: How a City is Helping Immigrant Students

“…Many immigrant children face challenges that make it difficult to fully participate in education. These include language and cultural barriers [24], challenges with academic adjustment and expectations in the U.S. [25], unresolved historical trauma [26,27] , as well as differing priorities and goals between family members who may want children to work vs. schools who may push for access to college [28,29]. Additionally, level of education, language ability, lack of familiarity with US school systems, and socioeconomic status of parents greatly influences the parent's availability to assist their children with homework and educational needs [30,31,32].…”