Introduction to Working with People from Refugee Backgrounds: Nurses and Allied Health Professionals

This two day introduction explores potential pre-arrival experiences of people from refugee and asylum seeking backgrounds, and the impact of those experiences on health and wellbeing in both early and longer-term settlement contexts. Practitioners will engage with concepts of health literacy, cross-cultural engagement, and assessing common physical and emotional health issues which are a result of refugee experiences. Communication skills, refugee health and settlement services, and other key services and resources will be discussed.

Content includes:

• Understanding Australia’s humanitarian program and recent refugee and asylum seeker arrival patterns, within a broader policy context;
• Exploring issues in working cross-culturally;
• Exploring the Foundation House Trauma Recovery Framework, to better understand the impact of torture and trauma and the basis for trauma-informed interventions;
• Overview of relevant services for people from refugee backgrounds, referral processes and resources;
• Overview of refugee health assessments.