Refugee Care (Taught)

This course has been designed specifically for online delivery and is taught through distance learning, meaning the entire year (or two years if you're studying part-time) is taught online with no face-to-face, in-person teaching. Where possible, flexibility will be exercised to accommodate different time zones. This course enables students anywhere in the world to study, whilst they continue to live in their own localities and retain their existing employment.

This unique course brings together people from diverse walks of life and parts of the globe to explore how we can therapeutically care for refugee people more effectively. Whereas other institutions and courses focus on the study of refugees, our course focuses on the caring of them, on how we can intervene therapeutically to support this segment of our society.

We unpack the experiences of involuntarily dislocated people as multi-dimensional and complex, and explore psychosocial perspectives and different types of intervention and activism. We discuss how we become more therapeutic in our work with them as a distinct skill, different from offering psychotherapy. Through our course, you gain practical expertise in challenging negative and limiting stereotypes of asylum seekers and refugees as being merely traumatised individuals, passive recipients of help. You also gain new insight into effective humanitarian work with these individuals, families and communities. The course provides you with the tools to discern the suffering, pain and distress of these people, whilst also appreciating their retained strengths (Resilience) as well as the new strengths that they acquired from being exposed to adversity (Adversity-Activated Development). This programme is closely associated with the Centre for Trauma, Asylum and Refugees.

Course Modules

You can tailor your learning experience with a choice of optional modules. More information about these can be found on the University of Essex website