Autumn BCA Talk & AGM in collaboration with the journal Psychodynamic Practice
Building seven bridges with young asylum seekers living in exile in the UK
with Sheila Melzak
Sheila’s talk will explore how we can build sturdy and protective connections for the developmental years after experiences of sequential violence. This means building links in the internal worlds of young asylum seekers between different aspects of themselves that emerge after violence and loss; links with their peers, listening adults, various social and cultural influences, their past, present and future lives; and links with local, national and international communities via a ‘Transitional Therapeutic Community’
Sheila Melzak is a consultant Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist and Founding Director of the Baobab Centre for Young Survivors in Exile.
The Baobab Centre, set up in 2008 as a human rights organisation specifically for young people, is a non-residential therapeutic community where troubled young asylum seekers and refugees are offered individual and group psychotherapy together with opportunities for many group based therapeutic activities. It also offers practical support and prepares specialist clinical reports to support young people’s asylum claims.
Sheila worked for many years with children and adolescents separated from their families in the UK, both for local authorities and with CAMHS services. She has worked with young asylum seekers and refugees since 1989 when she ran the Child and Adolescent Team at the Medical Foundation (now Freedom from Torture).