ASYLUM SEEKERS (AS): defined according to the UN Declaration of Human Rights as a person who enters a country in order to claim asylum and who has the claim assessed through an asylum process80. AS are entitled to receive all NHS services60.
EYE MOVEMENT DESENSITIZATION AND REPROCESSING (EMDR) THERAPY: EMDR therapy involves the identification of unprocessed traumatic experiences. The worst aspect of the memory is recalled whilst the client is simultaneously directed to move their eyes from side to side (or employ some other form of bilateral stimulation). The effect is to desensitise the client to the distressing memory and reprocess the memory so that the associated cognitions become more adaptive.
FAILED ASYLUM SEEKER: an informal term for those asylum seekers whose claims and appeals have been rejected. Failed asylum seekers are made up of two groups with varying levels of entitlement to care as detailed below60:-
- Those who become section 4 supported: These are asylum seekers who continue to engage with the Home Office and who, for health or safety reasons, are unable to return to their country of origin immediately. Section 4-supported failed asylum seekers are exempt from all charges and entitled to all NHS services
- Those who become undocumented because they are no longer engaging with the Home Office. There are no Department of Health regulations concerning their entitlement to primary care. GPs have the discretion to register any patient, irrespective of residency status, unless the person resides outside the practice boundary. Undocumented asylum seekers are not generally eligible for hospital treatment unless to save life or to prevent a condition from becoming life-threatening. They are eligible for:
- Treatment in A&E and walk-in centres
- Family planning services
- Sexual health clinic treatment (excluding HIV treatment)
- HIV diagnostic services
- Compulsory mental health treatment
- Treatment of some communicable diseases
MIGRANT: Someone that lives in a different country to the one they were born in
NARRATIVE EXPOSURE THERAPY (NET): NET was developed by the Schauer, Neuner and Elbert, members of NGO Vivo International, originally as a treatment to be used in refugee camps in low income countries81 82. NET is 10-session intervention which enables the client to talk through in detail all the pertinent traumatic events in his or her life. It starts with the construction of a ‘lifeline’, which gives the therapist and client an overview of the client’s life, including traumatic and less traumatic events. Then, they agree on which traumatic events to focus in therapy and the rest of the treatment involves the detailed exposition of the traumatic events. The therapist transcribes this exposition in summary between sessions (this is known as ‘the narrative’.)
REFUGEE: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) defines a refugee as someone who ‘owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country’ 83
REFUGEE STATUS/LEAVE TO REMAIN: In the UK, an asylum seeker is granted "refugee status" or "leave to remain" if their asylum claim is successful or if they are granted the status for humanitarian reasons. The refugee status gives the individual the same rights of a UK citizen, being allowed to live and work in the country for a period of five years, after which the refugee would have to apply for indefinite leave to remain.
RESETTLED REFUGEES: Refugees that have been resettled in the UK under one of the various resettlement programmes, e.g. the Syrian Resettlement programme.
SECTION 4 SUPPORT: Some asylum seekers who have had their claims refused can apply for somewhere to live and £35.39 per person on a payment card which can be used at certain shops. The payment card will not be given if the offer of a place to live is not taken up and no cash will be given to a refused asylum seeker. This can only be given if the person is homeless, does not have any money to buy food and you can show that there’s a reason why they are unable leave the UK straight away
SECTION 95 SUPPORT: Weekly support of £37.75 per person and per family member, which is intended to cover essential living needs. It includes a calculation of £0.92 per week per person for Healthcare. Pregnant women and mothers of new babies and children up to 3 may receive between £3 and £5 extra per week and a one-off maternity payment of £300. The allowance is loaded onto an ASPEN (debit) card each week, which can be converted to cash.
SECTION 98 SUPPORT: is the temporary provision of accommodation for asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute and who are either awaiting a verdict on their section 95 support application, or receiving section 95 support but are waiting to be allocated their dispersal accommodation.
SECTION 117 SUPPORT: When a person who has been detained under the Mental Health Act ceases to be detained, the former patient must be provided with aftercare services under section 117 of the Act. These aftercare services can include accommodation.
UNACCOMPANIED ASYLUM SEEKING CHILD (UASC): a person who, at the time of making their asylum application, is under 18 years of age or who, in the absence of documentary evidence, appears to be under that age and who is applying for asylum in his/her own right and is without adult family member(s) or guardian(s) to turn to in this country.