How therapy can help refugee women

Fatima talks about how therapy with the Refugee Council helped her, and Fawzia speaks about her work supporting women in the asylum system.

Fatima*

"Before I started therapy, I had some English friends, they were aware of my situation. I was always crying, upset, stressed and feeling anxious. I was not able to sleep properly. Every time I took my daughter to school I’d see my friends, they saw I wasn’t sleeping, and they helped me come here. This therapy was really helpful for me. I can’t say I’m completely healed but at least I’m hopeful now.

This therapy was really helpful for me. I can’t say I’m completely healed but at least I’m hopeful now.

I’ve had my interview with the Home Office, but talking about what has happened is really difficult, talking about the tragedy that I’ve been through in my home country. We could speak for a long time. You could write - not even a whole book - maybe even a whole library about this.

The future of my daughters is important. I don’t want them to go through what I went through. I will encourage them to be themselves and do what they’d like to, so nobody tells them that’s an obstacle, that’s shameful, that’s ‘haram’. I want them to follow their skills and talents, that’s important for me.

Coming here and facing the Home Office is really difficult. We’ve been through a lot of stress and anxiety. They’ve planted that fear in our hearts.

I feel I’ve spoken about some of the burden I’m carrying. I feel that means you’re also helping to carry it with me."

Fawzia

"I’m a gender-based violence specialist at Refugee Council. We’re providing a safe space for asylum seeking people to come to. I’ve been here for 13 years. I started off as a volunteer. The women I work with can have multiple issues. You've got women coming in from very traumatic situations – war, trafficking, modern-day slavery, imprisonment.

I think for me this is not just a job. My parents came in the 1960s, they travelled on a boat from Mauritius, and my mother came to do nursing, and my father came to study law, so migration is part of my DNA. In this work, you're giving somebody a voice, a space for them to be heard and to be respected.

For us to provide the service that we provide, some of the challenges are the lack of funds. There will always be some stories that will really pinch on your heart, there will be some that make you feel, ‘oh, that's really hit me!’

I love seeing people transform, when they say, ‘now I can talk, I can express myself.’"◆

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Fatima’s* name has been changed to protect her identity.