Malaysia is the largest recipient of refugees and asylum-seekers in Southeast Asia. Recent reports place the number of registered refugees at 180,440. Additional estimates suggest there may be as many as 140,000 unregistered individuals seeking asylum in the country.
Many of these asylum-seekers experienced war trauma and torture, which places them at a higher risk of developing serious psychiatric illnesses, including post-traumatic stress disorder and major depression. Thus, a need for evidence-based, trauma-focused, and culturally adapted training for the treatment of refugee trauma survivors is urgently needed.
To combat these challenges, experts at the University of Minnesota’s College of Education and Human Development (CEHD), have partnered with colleagues in Malaysia to develop a 30-hour virtual curriculum for mental-health practitioners to help address this need.
