Towards Adequate and Accessible Psychosocial Care: A Research Working Alliance with Professionals in Treatment and Counseling

Institutions of psychosocial care do not offer equal access to all members of society, not even to those who are entitled to such services by general health insurance. Immigrant status is associated with lower rates of use of mental health services; this likely reflects cultural and linguistic barriers to care. In the case of Germany, migrants are disproportionally highly represented among in-patients in psychiatric clinics and in compulsory treatment in forensic psychiatry; in many cases, psychosocial care therefore does not function preventively. Institutions of psychosocial care do not adequately respond to the needs of migrants and the relation between migration and mental health needs further investigation, as well as the development of cultural sensitive health care.

Psychotherapists and psychiatrists in Frankfurt am Main founded the “Intercultural Forum Migration and Psychosocial Care” in April 2010 to address these problems and work towards more adequate and accessible treatment and counseling. In some institutions there are changes in organization and leadership, more professionals with migration experience are employed and treatment is offered in different languages. In other institutions, such changes are absent or very slow. But professionals from most clinics and counseling centers take part in the “Forum” and agree that change is needed.

At the University of Applied Sciences, we are founding members of the “Forum” and take part in the ongoing plenaries and working group meetings. We are also conducting a research project on “Diversity and Inclusion in Institutions of Psychosocial Care”. Students in the Master Research in Social Work attend the working groups and plenary meetings as focus groups and write ethnographic protocols on their observations. They also ask psychotherapists and psychiatrists for narrative interviews on their professional experience. In my paper, I would like to discuss the methodology, working alliances and findings of this research.