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Refugees, the asylum system and mental healthcare in Ireland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Molly O'Connell
Affiliation:
Jonathan Swift Clinic, St James's Hospital, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
Richard Duffy
Affiliation:
Cluain Mhuire Community Mental Health Services, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Republic of Ireland
Niall Crumlish
Affiliation:
Jonathan Swift Clinic, St James's Hospital, Dublin, and Clinical Lecturer, Department of Psychiatry, Trinity College, Dublin, Republic of Ireland, email niall.crumlish@tcd.ie
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The number of people seeking refugee status in Ireland is increasing year on year and the burden of mental illness experienced by refugees and asylum seekers is high. The College of Psychiatrists of Ireland has recommended the establishment of a number of specialist refugee mental health teams. In this paper we discuss the Irish asylum system, the Irish evidence regarding mental illness in this population, and current health service policy regarding refugee mental health. We propose a model of specialist refugee mental healthcare delivery.

Type
Thematic Paper
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists 2016

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