Médecins Sans Frontières delivers specialist trauma service for people seeking sanctuary in Birmingham

Many service users have survived conflict, torture and persecution, and endured violence and exploitation during their migration journey. As a result, they are often affected by uncertainty, destitution, and detention, as well as by harmful policies and hostility from border forces and protest groups. ​

Since establishing this project in July 2025, MSF has built specialist clinical and case work capacity, offering psychological support from September 2025 and expanding to individual therapy from January 2026. To date, we have received more than 350 referrals from physicians and other organisations working with migrants, and assessed more than 230 individuals as part of our service.

Among those referred to the service, the clinical team sees a high prevalence of separation, loss, and grief. Many individuals referred to the service present with trauma-related symptoms, including flashbacks, nightmares, suicidal thoughts, and hypervigilance, alongside anxiety and depressive symptoms. The team is also seeing increasing numbers of age-disputed young people being housed in adult hotels.

Melissa*, one of the therapy team, explains, “Imagine you're experiencing “re-plays” of traumatic events in your life, when you feel like you’re back in that same place, at that same time. You feel the same emotions, the same physical feelings, the sense of being in immediate danger. Now imagine that’s happening all the time: you can't predict it, and you cannot control it. In MSF, our goal is to deliver really good quality healthcare where its most needed, no matter what someone’s background is. When we work with psychological trauma, that treatment can save a person’s life. It might not be a surgery or treatment for TB, but that does not make it any less important. Mental health care can be lifesaving.”

MSF ensures people can access the level of care they need at the time they need it. Patients are referred by local refugee and migrant support organisations and the NHS, including GPs and NHS mental health services. The therapy work sits within a broader holistic approach that also includes casework support to people in hotel accommodation, signposting to other support services, and raising concerns with relevant authorities where required.

MSF’s Head of Migration Task Force Fouzia Bara says, "This work in Birmingham and the surrounding area forms part of MSF’s broader commitment to supporting displaced people around the world. ​ Birmingham is the UK’s second largest city and hosts around 4,150 people seeking asylum – the second largest supported asylum-seeking population in England after London. However, it has far fewer public and charitable services available to meet these needs compared with the capital. Our specialist trauma-focused care, delivered alongside practical case work, is supporting and relieving pressure on existing overstretched NHS services.”

MSF’s UK Migration Programme Manager Ghita Benjelloun adds, “We are a trauma specialised service. You cannot treat trauma during movement, during displacement. It is really important that this work is done in the country of arrival; in the country of safety. We have huge experience in migration, so we have the capacity and the expertise to respond to these unmet needs.”

*Name changed to protect identity

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