The narration expected in the asylum process is generally outside the experience of many asylum seekers. Young people with limited education, from close rural, family or ethnic communities are likely to have had limited experience ordering facts about their lives or describing their fears and emotions to strangers.

There is limited understanding concerning the skills needed for active, fair participation in the asylum process and little if any consideration/patience/tolerance accorded to those manifestly finding the process very difficult.

Young people seeking asylum alone are vulnerable in multiple ways. Many have already suffered severe trauma in their home countries and/or on their journeys, coupled with the stress of separation from home and family and of being alone in an unfamiliar country. Often, they are left with little support when navigating an immigration system which can be callous and hostile.

It is essential that the adults in their lives – solicitors, barristers, social workers, foster carers and others – should understand what they are experiencing, and do everything we can to support them through the asylum process.

Everyone who works with young people seeking asylum needs to have a good understanding of the many factors which may inhibit a young person’s ability to tell their story – trauma, depression and anxiety, differences of language and culture, fear and confusion, and the ordinary fallibility of children’s memories, among others. In short, mental health literacy is essential for all those working in this field.