Displacement, Faith, and Mental Health: Integration and Support for Arabic-speaking Refugees in Germany: Spotlight Series

Displacement, Faith, and Mental Health: Integration and Support for Arabic-speaking Refugees in Germany

Mental health services are not always readily available to refugees, especially services in a native language with cultural competency. Berlin, Germany is home to thousands of Arabic-speaking refugees, many of whom are seeking mental health support. Diana Rayes, MHS will present the findings from her qualitative research study titled "Faith-based coping among Arabic-speaking refugees seeking mental health services in Berlin, Germany” conducted during her Fulbright research fellowship in Germany (2018-2019). The aims of the study were to explore the various cultural and religious forms of coping utilized by newly-arrived refugees to Germany and their potential impact on integration.

This study was part of the broader Mental Health in Refugees and Asylum-Seekers (MEHIRA) project, a multi-site, randomized-control trial led by the Charité University of Medicine in Berlin which aimed to explore ways in which mental health services can be optimized for recently arrived refugees and asylum-seekers across Germany. Rayes will provide background on both research projects as well as share preliminary thoughts about how considerations of cultural and spiritual identities can inform broader research and policy impacting refugee and migrant communities.

Diana Rayes, MHS ‘16 is a first year PhD Student in the Department of International Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she is specializing in the impact of conflict and displacement on refugee and migrant mental health and integration in host country contexts. Diana is a recipient of the Fulbright research fellowship and is also a Nonresident Fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy. She has been published in the British Medical Journal, PLOS Medicine, and The Lancet and is a steering committee member of the Syrian Public Health Network.