Beyond the clinic walls: The approach to refugee mental health at Trauma Foundation South West

Beyond the Clinic Walls explores the mental-health needs of refugees and people seeking asylum, drawing on over twenty years of practice at Trauma Foundation South West (TFSW) and insights from Hannah Sansom’s 2025 review of the PTSD NICE guidelines. Our experience shows that rigid, diagnosis-led models often overlook the impact of forced migration, racism, cultural displacement and ongoing structural barriers faced by our clients. We outline how TFSW’s approach - centred on culturally responsive, anti-racist practice, flexible assessment, long-term psychotherapy and integrated therapeutic methods - both echoes and extends Sansom’s findings. We emphasise the value of adapting the therapeutic frame, working collaboratively with interpreters, and using creative therapies such as art therapy. Ultimately, we argue that refugee mental-health support must move beyond narrow clinical models, grounding care in connection, safety, dignity, and cultural humility to truly support healing and inclusion.