WACIT; Refugee Mental Health and the Impact of Trauma

Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH)

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.20476
For this podcast, for Refugee Week, we are joined by Professor Panos Vostanis, professor of Child Mental Health at the University of Leicester, and founder of the organisation World Awareness for Children in Trauma (WACIT).
As an expert in the impact of trauma on child and adolescent mental health, Panos sets the scene by talking to us about trauma as it relates to child refugees and other young people in conflict.
Panos then turns to his work at WACIT and details what WACIT is and the goals of the organisation, before detailing some of the training services for CAMH professionals who work with refugees, asylum-seekers, and other vulnerable groups.
With WACIT also running interventions for children and young people themselves, Panos further discusses the work they have done with children and young people who are refugees or living in conflict zones, and shares what the outcomes were like.
As one of the aims of WACIT is to develop evidence based psychosocial interventions and capacity building for children living in conflict and disadvantage, Panos comments on what the evidence shows to be the best approach to take when it comes to working with children and adolescent refugees who’ve experienced significant trauma.
Furthermore, Panos talks us through two new projects aimed at improving services for refugee children internationally and shares his message to policymakers.