PHD Completion Seminar - 11 May 2020

Deciphering despair: A study of self-harm in the Australian asylum seeker population

Presenter: Dr Kyli Hendrick

Monday 11 May 2020 11.00am—12.00noon - Via Zoom https://unimelb.zoom.us/j/834628214

Asylum seekers are at elevated risk of self-harm, and being detained further increases such risk; yet little has been known about self-harm in asylum seekers until recently. Drawing on data from 949 self-harm incidents reported across the Australian asylum seeker population between 1 August 2014 - 31 July 2015, obtained via Freedom of Information, this thesis examines the incidence and key characteristics of self-harm, including by processing arrangements (i.e. community-based asylum seekers, community-detention, onshore detention, Nauru, Manus Island).

Kyli is a registered psychologist who has worked with people from asylum seeking and refugee backgrounds in several different roles for 20 years. She is the founder of a small private practice for people from asylum seeking and refugee backgrounds in Melbourne’s inner west. Since 2017, Kyli has conducted mental health assessments and provided psychological reports for asylum seekers held in offshore detention. Prior to this, Kyli was employed at the Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture for five years.

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