People seeking protection from war, torture and violence have been coming to Germany not only since 2015. The EU Reception Directive 2013/33/EU defines different groups in need of special protection, including people who are suffering from mental illnesses or have been victims of psychological, physical or sexual violence. In our specialized department for traumatized refugees and survivors of severe violence, the special need for protection is determined and the resulting needs are identified.

Those who have experienced torture and/or other forms of severe violence, are traumatised or suffer from other forms of mental illnesses have special needs in terms of material and health care and accommodation in accordance with the EU Reception Directive. The goal of our specialised department is to implement the Reception Directive and to support mentally ill refugees, to determine and document their special need for protection, to determine their individual need for help, to arrange for adequate care structures and to counteract the chronification of mental illnesses in the long term. In addition, we would like to strengthen the professional staff’s confidence in dealing with people in need of special protection.

Our multi-professional team with social work, psychotherapeutic and psychiatric expertise offers support to people who are mentally ill, traumatised or survivors of severe violence:

The services of our department aim at:

– Adults, teenagers and children with escape and refuge experiences, who are mentally ill, traumatised and/or affected by torture or severe violence and who have special needs due to their mental illness
– People who are in an ongoing asylum procedure
– People who have recently arrived or have not yet applied for asylum
– People with an asylum procedure that has been concluded negatively (toleration, appeal procedure, permit and residence permit)
-People with a residence permit who are in public accommodation

Furthermore, within the framework of the Berlin Network for Refugees in Need of Special Protection (BNS), the specialised unit is committed to identifying problems and gaps in the care system and improving care structures. Networking with Berlin partners is an important part of our work.

Funding

The project is funded by the Senate Commissioner for Participation, Integration and Migration with funds from the Senate Department for Labour, Social Affairs, Gender-Equality, Integration, Diversity and Anti-Discrimination.