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"Lives are in danger and we are unable to cope with the demand," says Dr. Tram Nguyen, director of mental health services at the center. "We are going to see an increased risk of self-harm and suicidality – we have seen this in Nauru and Manus when policies become more severe."
Payment of Status Support Services (SRSS) provides an allowance for subsistence – usually 89% of the Newstart allowance – or $ 247 a week – as well as support for work, badistance in finding housing and access to torture and trauma.
The government's reasons are that almost all asylum seekers have the right to work. But Cabrini and other refugee support organizations claim that their patients often have complex and chronic mental health problems and that they have been de-qualified for years spent in the hospital. limbo.
"Being ready to work is not the same thing as having the skills to find a job," says Tracey Cabrie, center manager. "Having access to work does not mean that someone is ready to work: there may be no language, and it may be that he or she in misery or without shelter. They are being set up to fail. "
Although the cuts are within a fortnight, the center's staff has already noticed a marked increase in the demand for services from asylum seekers who are very anxious. psychiatric appointments at the center have gone from a few weeks to a few months, hence the call for volunteer help.
Since it opened in 2016, the center has hosted more than 420 approximately 280 patients on an ongoing basis, with significant health needs around issues such as chronic pain and homelessness.
Dr. Nguyen estimates that more than 50% have serious mental disorders that
Two-thirds of patients, including those awaiting the outcome of appeals to the Federal Court have no income, and more than half do not have access to Health insurance.They rely entirely on the donations of e local services.
And so they wait and wait. And – because humans need some certainty – their mental health disintegrates, says Ms. Cabrie
The asylum seeker Muhammad has been waiting for seven years that his application be decided, d & # 39; first by the federal government – which rejected it – now on appeal to the Federal Court.
Muhammad has no income and came to the center of Cabrini when he developed pneumonia and was not able to buy medication. "When my health deteriorated, it was too much stress," he explains
. He lives in a room at Baptcare, Brunswick, alongside about thirty other asylum seekers from around the world
. He goes to the Baths of New Brunswick every day with a donation. The Gymnastics Program and a Summer Gardening Program are two non-medical support initiatives that the center offers to asylum seekers.
In addition to psychiatrists and psychologists, center staff request that non-clinical health volunteers work in the center. A spokesman for the Interior Ministry said the SRSS was not a social protection program.
It was designed to provide adapted and short-term support to those who have impeded the resolution of their immigration status.
"People with a transition visa with rights to work, and who have the ability to work, are expected to support themselves while their immigration status is being resolved."
The evaluation process is underway. a senior journalist and editor of social affairs at The Age
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