An Introduction: Rehumanising People in Extreme Situations*

This module is aimed at professionals, students and volunteers who need to understand more about working with refugees, asylum seekers and vulnerable migrants affected by trauma and complex PTSD.

It will be challenging and thought provoking. You will develop the skills and understanding needed to support people who:

• have been displaced from their home countries through war, civil unrest, and/or the targeting of minorities
• had difficult journeys to the UK
• are arriving in a country that is new and sometimes hostile
• have experienced other highly traumatising events.

This understanding is needed by front line staff and volunteers - both service providers and counsellers. It's for individuals working (or intending to work) in a range of professions, including:

• Social Workers
• GPs
• housing officers
• midwives
• and those working on the frontline in camps, hotels and on borders.

*Final title of the module is subject to update

The module is taught by Refugee Resource, a non-profit organisation, with almost 25 years of experience providing psychological, social and practical support for those vulnerable migrants who need it. Using cross-cultural references, it will critically review the circumstances which cause people to become displaced and examin what happens to brains, bodies and sense of humanity when people lose control of their lives.

The module will examine the experience of arrival in a 'hostile' 'place of safety' and the impacts. This module will explore what causes people in the 'host countries' to respond so negatively to these arrivals and build on the practitioners' understanding of why host country institutions and their staff sometimes react as they do in the face of massive traumatisation and loss.