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The Refugee Therapy Centre was established in 1999
in response
to the growing need for a therapeutic service which
respected, and worked with, the cultural and linguistic
needs of refugees and asylum seekers providing people
with the opportunity to be heard and receive help in
their own language where possible or in English if they
so wished.
Our central purpose is to help
refugees and asylum seekers to feel
empowered to deal with their psychological difficulties
by providing
specialist counselling, psychotherapy and support.
We offer
The majority of the
Centre’s therapists have a refugee or immigrant
background and bring with them a wealth of linguistic,
cultural and shared experiences. Patients have the
choice of receiving therapeutic support in English or in
their own
language.
Some people prefer not to see a therapist from their own
cultural background because of feelings
of mistrust, guilt, shame or embarrassment about what
has happened
to them, but also due to the intensity of feelings of
pain when talking in their own language. Some people
simply do not want to have contact with helpers from
their own background because they feel rejected by their
own people and country. At the core of our work are the
refugees and asylum seekers themselves.
Our Aims:
• To empower refugees and
asylum seekers to deal with their
psychological difficulties in an effective and
appropriate manner
• To provide a safe space
in which people can rediscover their abilities
and rebuild their confidence to be active members of the
community
• To provide psychotherapy and
associated treatments for refugees
and asylum seekers
• To give priority to children,
young people and their families
• To give priority to those
with less than ten years in the United Kingdom at the
time of first contact
• To provide initial training
for refugees working for the Centre,
in psychotherapy, counselling, support work,
administration and
other skill.
Staff and
volunteers
Clinical Director – Aida Alayarian
Finance Administrator – Mohammad Jameer
Administrative Assistant – Zubeyde Arabaci
Building Project
Assistant – Alastair Stokes
Administrative Volunteer – Susan Gunning
Administrative Volunteer – Fidan Boz
Administrative Volunteer – Zoya Khan
Administrative Volunteer – Asha Al-Sharif
Therapists and counsellors
Rachel Adema
Nerma Biscevic
Dorothy Daniell
Shahrzad Khamoush
Marie-José Loncelle-Burris
Pat Land
Kiymet Omur Bivolaku (counsellor in placement)
Lennox Thomas
Ngah Zahari
We have another 24 therapists working
from their consulting rooms
Supervisors
Aida Alayarian
Dorothy Daniell
Juliet Hopkins
Josephine Klein
Lennox Thomas
Support Outreach Workers
Zubeyde Arabaci
Eden Melles
Philo Muteba
Maryam
Nourbakhsh
Linda Raymond
The Board of
Trustees and Management Committee
Board of Trustees
Chair
– Dr Stuart Turner
Stuart Turner established the Traumatic Stress Clinic, a
national centre for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,
which he directed until 2003, and is now Consultant
Psychiatrist at the Trauma Clinic in London. He is an
Honorary Senior Lecturer at University College London,
past Campus Dean at Royal Free and University College
Medical School, past President of the European Society
for Traumatic Stress Studies and a current board member
of the International Society for Traumatic Stress
Studies. He is also a Trustee of REDRESS, an
organisation working for reparation for torture
survivors.
 Vice
Chair – Dr Josephine Klein
Josephine Klein is a Co-Founder of the Refugee Therapy
Centre. She came to England from Holland with her family
in 1940. She went to an English school and won a
scholarship to University. She was a university teacher
for 25 years, retiring into private practice as a
psychotherapist in 1974. She is a Fellow of the London
Centre for Psychotherapy. Josephine is now supervising
the Centre’s group work and teaches on the Counselling
Course at the Centre. Her publications include The Study
of Groups (1952); Working with Groups (1956); Samples of
English Cultures (1965); Our Needs for Others and its
Roots in Infancy (1987); Doubts and Certainties in the
Practice of Psychotherapy (1995); and Jacob’s Ladder
(2003).
 Clinical
Director / Company Secretary
Dr Aida Alayarian
Aida Alayarian is a Co-Founder and the Clinical Director
of the Refugee Therapy Centre, as well as Company
Secretary. She has been a Clinical Psychologist and
Child Psychotherapist since 1986, and adult
psychotherapist since 1998, working with families and
children in multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural
settings. Prior to becoming Clinical Director of the
Centre, she worked for seven years at London’s
Intercultural Therapy Centre, NAFSIYAT, was Head of
Therapy Services and Chair of the Panel of Foster Carers
at the Childcare Co-operative. She also worked at the
Brixton Community Mental Health, South London & Maudsley
NHS Trust and at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trusts.
She is currently serving as an Elected Council member of
the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture
Victims (IRCT).
Dr John Denford
John Denford is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst with
experience in general psychiatric and psychotherapeutic
hospitals in London and Dunedin, New Zealand. He is an
Associate Member of the British Psychoanalytical
Association since 1960 and a Fellow of the Royal College
of Psychiatrists since 1980. John was Medical Director
of the Cassel Hospital in Richmond from 1988-1994 and
Clinical Co-ordinator
of the Medical Foundation for the Care of Torture
Victims from
1995-1997. In his early career, he trained as a medical
doctor in New Zealand. His particular interests are in
inpatient psychotherapy, group teaching and therapy,
psychotherapy in general practice and hospital practice.
He has published numerous publications and has several
teaching appointments.
 Mr
Lennox Thomas
Lennox Thomas first trained in clinical social work,
then moved to the probation service and later to
psychiatric hospitals. He is a former Co Director of the
MSc Course in Intercultural Therapy at University
College London, a former Clinical Director of the
NAFSIYAT Intercultural Therapy Centre, a member of the
British Association of Psychotherapists and of the
Institute of Family Therapy, a trainer and supervisor in
Intercultural Therapy. He also provides supervision at
the Refugee Therapy Centre and at other Refugee
Organisations
Management Committee
Dr Stuart Turner
Dr Josephine Klein
Dr Aida Alayarian
Dr John Denford
Mr Lennox Thomas
Dr Micol Ascoli
Ms Mary Robertson
Dr Juliet Webster
 Dr Micol Ascoli
completed her medical, psychiatric and psychotherapeutic
training in Italy and since 2004 she is working as a
Consultant Psychiatrist at the Newham Centre for Mental
Health. Her special interests are psychodynamic
psychotherapy and Cultural Psychiatry. She has presented
and chaired sessions at several international congresses
since 2001 and she is a member of the World Association
of Cultural Psychiary, World Psychiatric Association
Transcultural Psychiatry Section, Dutch Society of
Transcultural Psychiatry, and the Italian Institute of
Transcultural Mental Health.
 Ms Mary Robertson
Mary Robertson is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist and
service manager at the Traumatic Stress Clinic in
London, which provides multi disciplinary trauma
services to survivors of violence. Prior to working at
the Traumatic Stress Clinic, Mary managed the Trauma
Clinic at the Centre for the Study of Violence and
Reconciliation. Mary has extensive experience in working
with trauma in a variety of settings and with diverse
client groups. She has local and international
experience in consultancy, training, programme
evaluation and policy development. She was one of the
founder members, acting coordinator and trustees of the
South African Network of Trauma Service Providers (Themba
Lesizwe) and she was a member of a national reference
group on the National Crime Prevention and Victim
Empowerment Programme in South Africa.
 Dr Juliet Webster
Juliet Webster is the Business Development Director of
the Involvement and Participation Association (IPA),
which assists organisations to develop effective
employee information and consultation processes and
workplace partnership. Prior to this Juliet was the
Director of Work and Equality Research from 1997 to
2005, an official in DG-Employment of the European
Commission in Brussels working on gender equality
policies, and before that she worked at the Universities
of East London and Edinburgh. Juliet's particular
interests are in the creation of good work and working
conditions through employee involvement and the
advancement of equalities in the workplace.
Her publications include a recent report to the European
Commission entitled "Changing European Gender Relations:
the findings of recent social research and their
implications for gender equality policy" and the books
"The Information Society in Europe: Work and Life in an
Age of Globalisation" and "Shaping Women's Work: Gender,
Employment and Information Technology".
Patrons
 Mr Jeremy Corbyn MP
Jeremy has been the M.P for Islington North since 1983.
He is the Vice-Chair of the Parliamentary Human Rights
Group and Vice-Chair of the Western Sahara Group (APPG).
Jeremy's national profile is based on his actions
against poverty, and in support of social security,
environmental and human rights questions both at home
and internationally. As a member of the National Council
of CND Jeremy has spoken at and attended human rights
and peace conferences including Beijing, New Delhi,
UN/Geneva. He has had significant involvement in
campaigning against miscarriages of justice. He has
campaigned hard for decent pension provision for all,
against racism, and on the major issues affecting his
constituents, especially unemployment and low pay. He
attended the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva on a
regular basis.
 Ms Eva Hoffman
Born in Poland in 1945 to Holocaust survivor parents,
writer Eva Hoffman is the author of several books,
including the widely regarded Lost in Translation: A
Life in a New Language and most recently, Shtetl: The
Life and Death of a Small Town and the World of Polish
Jews. Having received a Ph.D. in English and American
Literature from Harvard, Eva Hoffman has been a
professor of literature and of creative writing at
several institutions including Columbia, the University
of Minnesota, and Tufts; she was an editor and writer at
The New York Times from 1979-90, serving as senior
editor of "The Book Review" from 1987-90. In her newest
book, "After Such Knowledge," she addresses what the
Holocaust means to the second generation, children of
survivors.
 Professor Roland Littlewood
Roland Littlewood is a Professor of Anthropology and
Psychiatry at the University College London Centre for
Medical Anthropology. He was the winner of the Welcome
Medal for Anthropology as applied to Medicine, and the
Wilde Lecturer in Natural Religion, Oxford 1998-1999,
and has had numerous other honours. Roland is the author
of a number of important publications including the
standard Littlewood and Lipsedge (1982) Aliens and
Alienists: Ethnic Minorities and Psychiatry and
Littlewood and Kareem (1992) Intercultural Therapy:
Themes, Interpretations and Practice.
 Mr Keith
Miller
Keith Miller
is an NBC News Senior Foreign correspondent based in
London. As a foreign correspondent for NBC News for
almost three decades, he has covered events in more than
80 countries.
Miller is the recipient of seven national Emmy
nominations, two Edward R. Murrow Excellence in
Broadcasting Awards, two citations from the
International Olympic Committee and three National
Headliner Awards and an Overseas Press Club Silver Baton
for Outstanding Coverage of Spot News.
 Mr Claude
Moraes MEP
Claude Moraes was elected to
the European Parliament for London in 1999 and again in
2004 where he led the London List of candidates. He was
one of the first Asian MEPs and London's first ethnic
minority MEP. Claude was previously Director of JCWI,
the national migration and refugee charity and Chief
Executive of the Immigrants' Aid Trust. Before that, he
was a national officer at the TUC, a representative to
the European TUC in Brussels, House of Commons adviser
to MPs John Reid and Paul Boateng, and a CRE
Commissioner. With a legal background, he has campaigned
and written widely on human rights issues including
recently co-authoring the 'Politics of Migration' (Blackwells).
In the European Parliament he is Labour spokesperson on
Employment and Social Affairs and a member of the
Justice and Home Affairs Committee.
Dr Eric Rayner
Eric Rayner is the Former Vice President of the British
Psychoanalytic Society, and the frequent chair of
committees in that organisation and elsewhere. He is the
author of three books and numerous papers on
psychoanalytic and related topics.
 Professor Andrew Samuels
Andrew Samuels is a Professor of Analytical Psychology
at the University of Essex, Visiting Professor of
Psychoanalytic Studies at Goldsmiths College, University
of London, and Honorary Professor of Psychology and
Therapeutic Studies at Roehampton University. Andrew is
a Training Analyst for the Society of Analytical
Psychology. He works internationally as a political
consultant and is Co-founder of Psychotherapists and
Counsellors for Social Responsibility. His many books
have been translated into 19 languages.
Steering
Committees
In order to help us improve and develop our work, we
have formed two Steering Committees. The committees meet
regularly during the year and help us to improve our
service by giving advice and recommendations based on
members’ knowledge of clinical practice and the needs of
refugee communities.
Work Supervision at the Refugee
Therapy Centre
Even fully qualified and experienced professional
psychologists, psychotherapists and counsellors come for
a fortnightly supervision session at the Centre. However
wide their general experience, working with people who
have been refugees and asylum seekers requires
understanding of life events which may be painfully
difficult to tolerate; strange, unfamiliar, unbearable.
It is a relief, to the experienced as well as less
experienced staff, to be able to recount what they have
heard, consider how they responded, get over the pain
and shock, and have the support they need to face the
task with renewed confidence. Often supervision in a
small group of three or four people who share their
experiences, rather than one-to-one supervision, is most
helpful.
Clearly, supervision for the less experienced and for
beginners is even more carefully organised, and more
frequent.
The Centre also provides such clinical supervision for
the other professionals who are involved with out
clientele – the Support Outreach workers, mentors, and
other aid workers – both as a form of support and as
education which may lead them to look for further
training in an area of their choice.
An opportunity for those working for other agencies or
independently
The Refugee Therapy Centre welcomes opportunities to
extend its supervisory facilities to other professionals
and students.
Vacancies at the Refugee Therapy Centre
ADMINISTRATOR
* Do you have excellent administrative skills *
* Are you a good communicator *
Refugee therapy Centre seeking an Administrator
Salary is £17,376 - £22,086 p.a. based on skills
and experience
The successful candidates will be expected to have
excellent interpersonal skills; to work both as part
of a team and also on own initiative.
The candidate needs to have 2 years administrative
experience and to be able to demonstrate IT literacy
and proficiency using Word, Access and Excel.
For an informal discussion regarding this post, you
can contact Aida Alayarian on 020 7683 4278 or email
her on
aalayarian@refugeetherapy.org.uk
closing date is: Friday 10th December 2008
SESSIONAL BILINGUAL
COUNSELLORS /
PSYCHOTHERAPISTS
We are specifically looking for Arabic,
Somali, Turkish, and Lingala speaking
therapists. Successful candidates must be fully
qualified and registered with one of the National
Professional bodies.
To apply, please
send your CV and
covering letter
to the Centre by post.
VOLUNTEERS
If you would like
to apply to volunteer for the Centre, please download
the Volunteer Application Form. Then return this
to the Volunteer Coordinator by post, together with a
copy of your CV and a covering letter telling us a
little bit about yourself.
News
September 2008
Building work on the new
Centre at Leeds Place, Finsbury Park is in full swing.
The internal walls are now in place, and the beautiful
original iron windows are now being removed for
renovation. We are on target for our February 2009
completion date!
Publications
Resilience,
Suffering and Creativity: The Work of the Refugee
Therapy Centre
Published by Karnac, this
book provides information on the work of the Refugee
Therapy Centre and our specific approach, giving the
reasons why such an approach is needed, and considers
issues of diagnosis, the role of supervision, and the
subtleties of language and memory. It is intended
to show the emergence of a therapeutic culture, and how
it is possible to restore connections with people who
have been well-nigh destroyed by the trauma they have
endured. The themes concern the suffering of men and
women in war and political struggle. It is about trauma
and vulnerability, about rehabilitation, and also about
the courage, compassion and resilience of tortured
souls.
Edited by Aida Alayarian
With contributions from:
Aida Alayarian
Darlene Bregman Ehrenberg
Dorothy Daniell
Tirril Harris
Bernadette Hawkes
Josephine Klein
Lennox Thomas
Stuart Turner
Available to buy now at the
Centre or
www.karnacbooks.com
Self & Society:
Working With Refugees – Volume 32, no. 5 December 2004 -
January 2005
A special issue of Self and
Society which focused on the work of the Refugee Therapy
Centre. Published by The Association for Humanistic
Psychology in Britain, the pamphlet is a forum for
contemporary psychology.
Contributions:
The
Refugee Therapy Centre Aida Alayarian
Going Away John Denford
Why, as nearly as we can, we want our Refugee Centre
to be run by people who have known enforced migration
Josephine Klein
Supervision of Therapeutic Work with Refugees and Asylum
Seekers Lennox K Thomas
Loss and Recovery Dorothy Daniell
Counter-transference in working with refugees Aida
Alayarian
Copies are available from the Centre. Please contact us
for more information.
Privacy and other policies
In line with good practice for users of web sites, we
wish to make
the following declarations.
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administered
by the Refugee Therapy Centre (webmaster)
Editorial: The web-site content is subject to
review by the Refugee
Therapy Centre.
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automatically collect
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contact or trace visitors to our site.
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voluntarily to give us
contact information (like their
name, email, and postal address). This
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get in touch with those visitors who choose to give us
this information.
We will also make it clear in these forms if information may be shared
with others.
Links: This site contains links to other sites.
We cannot be held r
esponsible for the privacy practices
or the content of such Web sites.
Data Quality and Access: To inspect, change or
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