title: Addressing trauma in collaborative mental health care for refugee children.
abstract: Primary care institutions, including clinics, schools and community organizations, because of their closeness to the family living environment, are often in a privileged position to detect problems in traumatized refugee children and to provide help. In a collaborative care model, the child psychiatrist consultant can assist the primary care consultee and family in holding the trauma narrative and organizing a safe network around the child and family. The consultant can support the establishment of a therapeutic alliance, provide a cultural understanding of presenting problems and negotiate with the consultee and the family a treatment plan. In many settings, trauma focused psychotherapy may not be widely available, but committed community workers and primary care professionals may provide excellent psychosocial support and a forum for empathic listening that may provide relief to the family and the child.
authors.affiliation: McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada. cecile.rousseau@mcgill.ca
authors.forename: Cecile
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rousseau
authors.forename: Toby
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Measham
authors.forename: Lucie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Nadeau
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002665:Child Psychiatry; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011320:Primary Health Care; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012036:Refugees / Q000523:psychology*