Multiculturalism: Speech and Language Therapy Clinic for Migrants
Giuseppe Mancini, Donatella Tomaiuoli
The refugee crisis in Europe has highlighted many of the difficulties in creating appropriate services for vulnerable populations. Refugee adults and children suffer the adverse effects of forced migration which can lead to chronic disorders, if not treated. Many studies have shown that, though European governments and policy makers are aware of the specific difficulties encountered by the refugee population, medical and rehabilitation services often do not have a consistent and cohesive plan to operate the most effective programmes (when they do exist, are fragmented and poorly coordinated). Further barriers to treatment include cultural and communication difficulties, lack of access to intervention services, lack of continuity of care, as well as lack of empowerment on the part of the refugees themselves. Furthermore, most refugees are unfamiliar with Western mental health and rehabilitation services and their treatment expectations may be very different from services offered, leading to a lack of mutual understanding of the approaches used. The speech and language therapist as part of the multiprofessional team has a pivotal part to play in the development of refugee-competent services. As the stakeholder of communication and integration process, will attempt to sensitize first of all the SLTs, in their role in the development of appropriate service delivery, analyze the procedures, and outline the barriers to appropriate treatment, while attempting to offer some insights into ways in which these services may be improved from the SLT perspective.
Keywords
Migration, Refugees, Interprofessional approach, Multiculturalism, Rehabilitation.