Working Group for Mental Health and Forced Migration

The working group was set up in 2012 as a network of psychiatrists and other professionals who were interested in and/or working with forced migrants, people seeking asylum and refugees.

Many of the people these psychiatrists work with are detained in Immigration Removal Centres. The group shares examples of best practice, engages in academic research and engages with members of the RCPsych and other institutions to influence policy on related issues.

Previously known as the Working Group on the Health of Refugees and Asylum Seekers, the group is now called the Working Group for Mental Health and Forced Migration.

If you would like to contact us, please email Dr Martha Kelly, the Secretary for the Working Group, martha.kellyrcp@gmail.com.

Chair

Professor Cornelius Katona MD FRCPsych

Cornelius Katona is the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ lead on Refugee and Asylum Mental Health and works as Honorary Medical and Research Director of the Helen Bamber Foundation www.helenbamber.org - a human rights charity working with asylum seekers and refugees. He is Hon Professor in the Division of Psychiatry at University College London. He was a member of the Committee that updated NICE guidelines on PTSD. He chaired the Steering Group for the Commission on the Integration of Refugees which published its report and recommendations in March 2024 https://refugeeintegrationuk.com/publications/. He is a Trustee of the Medical Justice charity www.medicaljustice.org.uk .

Secretary

Dr Martha Kelly

Current Secretary for the Working Group of Forced Migration and Mental Health. (October 2023-onwards). Responsible for organising the group’s regular meetings as well as answering queries for new membership and helping to coordinate subgroups for ongoing projects.

Resident Doctor in Psychiatry  training, currently working in NHS Forth Valley.

Volunteer health assessment doctor for Freedom From Torture, Glasgow.
Originally developed a special interest in refugee and asylum seeker mental health while at  university in Birmingham and has experience working with people who have undergone forced migration in the UK, France and Greece. 

Members

Professor Piyal Sen

Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist and Medical Director, Elysium Healthcare, Honorary Professor, Brunel University and Visiting Academic, the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College, London. He has a special clinical, research and medico-legal interest in immigration detention and foreign national prisoners. He is the chair of the Special Committee on Human Rights of RCPsych. He delivers talks and workshops on issues related to asylum and contributes actively to policy responses and position statements developed by the group.

Dr Lauren Waterman

Consultant psychiatrist at Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust. She is currently doing research into the mental health consequences of immigration detention, the healthcare and safeguarding processes within UK immigration detention centres, and the continuity of care for migrants after release from UK detention centres. She has written medicolegal reports for asylum seekers and currently leads the medical service at the Asylum Seeker Drop-In charity project in North London.

Dr Sarah Majid

Consultant Psychiatrist in Medical psychotherapy Manager of Tavistock Immigration Legal Service

Dr Lucia Chaplin

Acting Up Consultant in Perinatal Psychiatry at Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust. Completed an MA in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies in 2019. Secretary of the group from May 2020 - October 2023. 

Mishka Pillay

Co-partner of A&M Consultancy, a partnership of two consultants with lived experience of the UK asylum and immigration systems. He has a particular interest in the mental health of refugees and Lived Experience Leadership. He is a trustee of Freedom from Torture. Mishka has been a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Working Group since May 2020. 

Ana Asatiani

Co-partner of A&M Consultancy, a partnership of two consultants with lived experience of the UK asylum and immigration systems. She has a particular interest in the mental health of refugees and people seeking asylum, and meaningful involvement of people with lived experience. Ana has been a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Working Group since November 2022. 

Dr Jane Mounty

Consultant Psychiatrist specialising in Rehabilitation and Systemic Therapy. She has worked with Medical Justice and the Helen Bamber Foundation preparing medico-legal reports since 2011. She has been a member of the RCPsych working group since 2013. She is also conference organiser for the volunteering and international psychiatry special interest group (VIPSIG). She has interests in anthropology, group therapy and the therapeutic effects of storytelling and the recording of oral histories.

Dr Rukyya Hassan

Consultant Psychiatrist and Medicolegal doctor, Torture ID and Freedom from Torture, Manchester. Consultant in General Adult and Rehabilitation Psychiatry with an interest in refugee mental health. 

Dr Sophie Quarshie

Dr Quarshie is a Consultant Psychiatrist accredited in addiction medicine by the Royal College of Psychiatrist. She has volunteered for over 10 years with Medical Justice, preparing medico-legal reports for detained asylum seekers as well as teaching and appraising. She has co-authored a randomised control trial in EClinicalMedicine about effectiveness of extended-release buprenorphine. She has recently set up an inreach addiction clinic into an Asylum Hotel located in Newcastle. 

Dr Grace Crowley

General adult psychiatry higher trainee based in South London. She is currently undertaking a Wellcome-funded PhD at King’s College London, and her project is focused on examining inequalities in mental health services for people with lived experience of forced migration. As well as being a member of the Working Group, she is a founding member of the Refugee Asylum Mental Health Network.

Dr Janine Bonnet

General Practitioner. Head of Medical legal report service for Freedom from Torture and an independent medicolegal report writer.

Previous psychiatry experience. Special interest in asylum seeker mental health and training health professionals in the documentation of torture and other harm.

Dr Susannah Fairweather

Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist in Growing With You, Children Looked After, Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children and Care Experienced CAMHS, Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, Camden, London

Specific interest in children looked after mental health, including unaccompanied asylum seeker children and neurodevelopmental presentations in the context of adverse childhood experiences. She regularly acts as an Expert Witness.

Dr Pallab Majumder

Honorary Associate Professor and Consultant Psychiatrist/ University of Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

More than 12 years as a Consultant Psychiatrist for Looked After Children/ Research interests – mental health of refugee children, looked after children, transitional care, service implementation/ development and medical education.

He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Clinical Director of Children Young People and Families Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, and Executive member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Academic & Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Faculties.

Dr Petra Makela

Vice Chancellor's Fellow in Community Wellbeing, Northumbria University at Newcastle, and

Medicolegal Physician at Medical Justice, London.

Trained in Rehabilitation Medicine, with a special interest in Brain Injury Rehabilitation.

Research draws on Medical Sociology and Implementation Science with a focus on marginalised needs, including participatory health services research with people from sanctuary-seeking backgrounds. 

Dr Ali Siddiqi

A GP, working as Lead Doctor (London) at Freedom From Torture and a Clinical Assessor at Medical Justice. Interest in health inequalities and inclusion health. Multi-sector global health experience working with vulnerable populations in  Zambia, Greece, Thailand/Myanmar and Libya.

Currently undertaking a MPH with a research project titled: ‘Mental health practices for survivors of torture in primary care settings: a scoping review’.

Dr Veronika Dobler 

Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS foundation trust, Cambridge University Teaching Hospitals. She currently leads a regional CAMH high intensity home treatment service for children with complex mental health challenges.  Her research interests include impact of adversity on child development, trauma treatments, implementation research for populations affected by health inequalities and interventions for complex clinical problems. She has been working with forcibly displaced children and youth for the last 10 years, with a special interest in supporting unaccompanied minors. She co-developed an open-source component-based program for unaccompanied minor asylum-seeking children, and is actively involved in supporting Local authorities to embed mental health support for refugees into community services.

Dr Camila Flores Montenegro

Medical Officer NHS Glasgow North West Alcohol and Drug Recovery Service.  Passionate about mental health, with a focus on the role of lifestyle—particularly sports—in strengthening mental wellbeing. My professional interests include the links between addiction and childhood trauma, as well as the intersection of asylum, migration, and mental health, shaped in part by my own experience as an immigrant.

Dr Rajiv Reddy

Locum Consultant in BHFT, also has a Validation in Addictions and works part-time in East London in a Drug and Alcohol Addictions clinic.

The working group meets online, approximately five times a year. 

At the meetings, we discuss any ongoing work and plans for future work. The meetings are chaired by Professor Katona and minuted by Dr Kelly.

Usually, the work that is planned is then carried out by individuals and small groups between meetings. The individuals and small groups report back at the next meeting, allowing further actions to be planned.

Members of the working group regularly contribute to academic, educational and professional conferences and meetings, helping to disseminate and improve knowledge, skills and attitudes regarding the assessment and management of people seeking asylum and refugees. For example, apart from symposia and master-classes organised by the Royal College, members have contributed to meetings of the BMA and Amnesty International.

The group also arranges annual Study Days which are publicised by the Royal College.

College Reports, Position Statements, and Consultations

  • The 2024 Report:  Protecting the mental health of people seeking sanctuary in the UK's evolving legislative landscape. /improving-care/campaigning-for-better-mental-health-policy/college-reports/2024-college-reports/protecting-the-mental-health-of-people-seeking-sanctuary-in-the-uk-s-evolving-legislative-landscape-(cr242)?searchTerms=%E7%86%8A%E7%8C%AB%E6%98%A0%E5%B0%84pro
  • The Position Paper on Capacity in Immigration Detention was published in 2017, and members were involved in developing this statement of concern about detained asylum seekers who lack relevant decision making capacity, alongside consultant with legal experts.
  • Members of the Working Group submitted detailed written responses to the Shaw Review on Immigration Detention of Vulnerable People published in 2015. And to the follow-up report in 2018, following which members provided input to the Home Office convened group tasked with reviewing progress with particular reference to the Home Office ‘Adults At Risk’ policy and the ‘Rule 35’ processes for identifying vulnerable detainees:
  • The Working Group contributed to the College’s consultation response to the Government Legal Department regarding the feasibility and problems associated with expert reports based on psychiatric assessments by video link, in 2019.
  • The Working Group made a submission and recommendations to the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act regarding the use of the Mental Health Act in the Immigration Removal Centre context in 2019.
  • In June 2019, the Working Group submitted a detailed response to the Consultation on Removal Centre Rules which addressed the rules governing the operation of Immigration Removal Centres
  • Members of the group drafted the mental health standards (including one addressing capacity issues) that form part of the Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine (FFLM) care standards for the care of victims of torture in detention settings in 2019.
  • The Working Group prepared a revision of the College Position Statement on detention of people with mental disorders in Immigration Removal Centres, informed by the College’s submission to the two Shaw reviews on the immigration detention of vulnerable people and the Home Offices’ ‘Adults At Risk’ policy:
  • An audit tool for assessing the quality of such MLRs was developed at the Helen Bamber Foundation and members of the Working Group supported in ‘field-testing’ this.
  • In collaboration with Medact, the Working Group submitted a paper to the College expressing its concerns regarding the impact of the NHS Charging Regulations on vulnerable people with mental health problems who were ‘failed’ asylum seekers or undocumented migrants
  • Members of the Working Group were involved in offering a statement to contribute to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Immigration Detention in 2021
  • The Working Group is currently working on writing a College Report on the Nationality and Borders Act, with a view to highlighting some of the damaging aspects of the Act and offering thoughts on how psychiatrists may be able to best mitigate these effects. Professor Katona was involved in supporting a couple of Peers in their responses in the Lords Debate when the Bill was being debated.
  • Members of the working group wrote a response to the Home Office consultation on their 2008 ACDT (suicide watch policy). The revisions have not yet been published:
  • An audit tool for assessing the quality of such MLRs was developed at the Helen Bamber Foundation and members of the Working Group supported in ‘field-testing’ this.

Research

Education

  • The Refugee Asylum Network runs regular online events on various subjects such as International Refugee Law, The Nationality and Borders Act, Medico-legal report writing, NHS Charging for overseas visitors, and conversations with experts by experience.
  • The Working Group has been involved in the development of the CPD Online Module based on CR199 (Preparing medico-legal reports (MLRs) in the refugee and asylum context)
  • The Working Group submitted suggestions to the committee who were working on the re-development of the RCPsych Training curriculum to incorporate learning outcomes related to asylum seeker and refugee mental health. Working Group members have previously attended NICE meetings to discuss training needs for psychiatry trainees.
  • Members of the Working Group have run talks and workshops at RCPsych International Congresses in the last few years.

Public engagement

  • In 2017 Professor Katona was on BBC’s Panorama investigation into Immigration Removal Centres which garnered widespread media interest
  • In 2018, Professor Katona organised public engagement meeting on mental health and immigration detention at the Royal Society of Medicine.

One of the main focuses of the efforts of members of the working group – individually and collaboratively – has been in leading world-class research on the mental healthcare of forced migrants. Here is a selection of some of the working group’s publications in the last two years from 2020:

  • Bashir ZH, Brady F, Katona C, Barker C, Fornells-Ambrojo M. Trust gained, trust lost: a qualitative analysis of human trafficking survivors' experiences. Eur J Psychotraumatol. 2026 Dec;17(1):2615608. doi: 10.1080/20008066.2026.2615608. Epub 2026 Feb 4. PMID: 41637107; PMCID: PMC12875104.
  • Shahzad A, Katona C, Glover N. The psychological impact of spending a prolonged time awaiting asylum. Eur J Psychotraumatol. 2025 Dec;16(1):2506189. doi: 10.1080/20008066.2025.2506189. Epub 2025 Jun 10. PMID: 40493425; PMCID: PMC12152982.
  • Crowley G, Katona C. "Crackdown on illegal working" for people seeking asylum will cause further harm. BMJ. 2025 Oct 20;391:r2172. doi: 10.1136/bmj.r2172. PMID: 41115700.
  • McDonnell, M., McGowan, J., Weldon, E., & Katona, C. (2025). The experiences of undergoing medico-legal assessments when seeking asylum in the UK: an interpretive phenomenological analysis. Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/13218719.2024.2444279
  • Talks I, Al Mobarak B, Katona C, Hunt J, Winters N, Geniets A (2024), "A mile in their shoes: understanding health-care journeys of refugees and asylum seekers in the UK". International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care, Vol. 20 No. 2 pp. 305–319, doi: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMHSC-06-2023-0060
  • Chisholm, Amy & Mark, Isabel & Unigwe, Silvana & Katona, Cornelius. (2022). Rituals as a Control Mechanism in Human Trafficking: Systematic Review and Thematic Synthesis of Qualitative Literature. Journal of Human Trafficking. 10. 1-24. 10.1080/23322705.2022.2062563.
  • Fox H, Oxley B (2021) ‘5.3 Considerations in the initial healthcare assessment for new arrivals’ In Orcutt M et al., Handbook of Refugee Health For Healthcare Professionals and Humanitarians Providing Care to Forced Migrants 1st Edition, Taylor & Francis
  • Howells S and Sen P (2020) Feasibility Study of Determining Prevalence of Common Mental Health Disorders in Male Immigration Detainees, SAGE Research Methods Cases: Medicine and Health DOI https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781529735604

 

Members of the Working Group have been involved in developing an RCPsych webpage on this topic, which can be found here.

Organisations that provide medical or medico-legal assistance for forced migrants, people detained in IRCs and victims of torture:

Organisations that campaign for the health rights of forced migrants:

Other resources:

If you would like to join the working group then please email Martha Kelly. All doctors and professionals working with people seeking sanctuary are very welcome.  

There is a broader network of health professionals who are currently working with people seeking sanctuary, or who are interested to do so, working under the name 'Refugee and Asylum Mental Health Network'. It has no formal affiliation to the Royal College of Psychiatrists but runs educational evening sessions, and serves as a way for professionals to network on clinical, research and advocacy subjects.

We have invited speakers from oganisations and charities working with people seeking sanctuary, and have heard from experts by lived experience. If you are interested to be part of this broader network, which is based primarily on a WhatsApp group, please contact Lucia. 

You can see previous and upcoming events run by the Refugee Asylum Network on their Eventbrite page.

Should you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact Martha.

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