The NCTSN invites you to join us in observing World Refugee Awareness Month and, on June 20th, World Refugee Awareness Day. In doing so, we focus on the millions of refugees who live around the globe, recognizing their plight as well as their valuable contributions to our communities. It is also a time to consider their needs for basic material, social, and legal protection, as well as for mental health services to help them cope with and heal from the traumatic experiences they have endured.
In the past decade, millions of children have been killed in war, many of them on the front lines as soldiers. From all over the world children who survived have come to the United States after suffering and witnessing unspeakably violent acts. Many of them experience symptoms of posttraumatic stress, among which are anxiety, depression, flashbacks in which they reexperience the horrors of the event, overreaction to trauma reminders, a heightened state of vigilance, emotional numbing, and inability to concentrate.
Traumatized refugee children and their families must deal with their past traumatic experiences while integrating into a new and unfamiliar society. They may feel exiled from their native cultures, from a home country that may no longer even exist as they knew it. They must look for safety in an alien culture, and ask for help in a nonnative language. Children and their families who have experienced war-related trauma and disruption also suffer burdens associated with resettlement such as poverty, unemployment, stigmatization, and bias.
See below for a listing of helpful resources related to refugee awareness.