Refugees from MENA to Northern Europe: Pressures & Solutions

"You lived in Africa or the Arab world; there you heard stories about friends, acquaintances and relatives who crossed the sea to Europe. The stories were rosy and you thought that once there, things would be easy  - easy living, easy finding work, earning a lot of money and making a real advance in your life. But such stories are not always true."

This manual is written for Asylum Seekers in Northern Europe, especially recent arrivals and those living in Asylum Centers. The manual lays out their legal rights and obligations. And it gives practical and mental health approaches that will assist them in surviving and adapting, in the short and long term. While some of the advice is based on personal experience in the Netherlands, the author has sought to expand this knowledge to other countries.
The book contains information on:

• The Rights & Obligations of a New Refugee;
• The Rights & Obligations of a Refugee in an Asylum Center; Managing Life in an Asylum Center
• Settling in: New Culture, Different Value Systems; 
• Refugees from MENA to Northern Europe: Pressures & Solutions
• Settling in & Restoring Physical & Mental Health

For example, the latter section notes that "two conditions are linked particularly to the experience of being a refugee: depression and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD. In all cases when someone has a mental illness, their community needs to remember these points: There is no shame in admitting such a problem and seeking help. Group therapy or individual therapy combined with medication helps with most of them....If the group has other people from the same geographic area it may help recovery." It is also noted that "the...family...may be taking a lot of the burden of mental ill-health upon themselves. They could benefit from support from individuals in the community. They may also benefit from meeting up with people in the same situation..."