AkiDwA is seeking a mental health researcher

Request for Tender – Mental Health Researcher

AkiDwA invites tenders from a qualified person to conduct research for a baseline study of the mental health needs of migrant women and the services available to them. The successful applicant will also deliver a series of informal psychosocial support and art therapy sessions in a culturally sensitive manner, following from recommendations made in the report.

INTRODUCTION

Established in 2001, AkiDwA is an ethnic minority-led national network of migrant women living in Ireland. The organisation advocates for migrant women’s equal rights in Irish society, free of gender and racial stereotyping. In partnership with others, AkiDwA uses a holistic and gender-specific approach to promote migrant women’s integration and provides them with support to access mainstream services and initiatives.

PROJECT BACKGROUND

To advance the work of the organisation mainly on women’s health and migrant integration and to help implement AkiDwA’s new strategic plan 2019-2021, and thanks to funding from Tusla, Ireland’s Child and Family Agency, AkiDwA has launched a research project on the mental health of migrant women, with a view to piloting a series of informal psychosocial support and art therapy sessions in a culturally sensitive manner.

Migration can often be stressful and negatively impact upon a person’s mental health. Leaving one’s home and adapting to a new environment, culture and life presents challenges. Refugees and migrants have a particularly difficult task of integrating in a new country and culture, and they may face negative attitudes, prejudices or discrimination which could undermine and hinder their efforts for integration leading to social exclusion which is a modifiable risk factor for mental disorders. Many refugee women living in Ireland have fled from extreme violence and persecution in their home country. Upon resettlement, refugee women have to deal with the loss of support systems, gender based violence, loss of personal livelihood and culture and sometimes poverty and unemployment.

The mental health of migrant and refugee women is therefore compounded by many and complex factors resulting in disorders such as depression, anxiety, trauma, stress disorder and mental breakdown. Medical intervention is available in Ireland, non-medical support is equally important in fostering and promoting women’s own coping mechanisms. Since March 2018, AkiDwA has been providing informal group talk therapy using a psychosocial approach, known as Let’s Talk.

nd

APPLICATION

Please submit your request for tender by 12pm on Friday 24^th May. Submissions or queries can be made by email at PR_officer@akidwa.ie or by post to:

AkiDwA Policy & Research Officer

Unit 2, Killarney Court,

Upper Buckingham Street,

Dublin 1

Full details of the project are available at the link below. 190503 AkiDwA Request for Tender