This edition takes into account historical and emerging theoretical perspectives, as well as an increasing literature on intervention approaches and strategies, to assist those who work with refugee-background survivors of persecution and other human rights violations. It is intended to be used to enhance understanding of such survivors and encourage services and practitioners to take a critical approach to implementing interventions to assist refugee survivors in rebuilding their lives.

This publication is aimed at individuals and services working with people of refugee background in both specialist trauma recovery settings, such as counselling and rehabilitation services, and mainstream settings with a trauma-informed perspective, such as mental health services, community centres, accommodation services, primary healthcare agencies, language centres and schools. It looks at understanding the impacts of traumatic events associated with persecution and human rights violations and responses to these impacts at three levels: (1) individual (adults and children); (2) family; and (3) community.

This new edition is designed to assist those working with and providing services to survivors of torture and other traumatic events from refugee background. Here, the term ‘people of refugee background’ is used in a broad sense to refer to all people who have been forcibly displaced as a result of persecution and human rights violations (including asylum seekers) and their family members.