European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Volume 27, Issue 4, 2018, Pages 423-437

Refugee children’s sandplay narratives in immigration detention in Canada (Article)

Kronick R.* , Rousseau C. , Cleveland J.
  • a Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, McGill University, Montréal, Canada, Centre for Child Development and Mental Health, Jewish General Hospital, Montréal, Canada, CIUSSS du Centre-Ouest-de-l’île-de-Montréal, Montréal, Canada, Sherpa Research Centre, Montréal, Canada, 4335 Chemin de la Côte Ste-Catherine, Montréal, QC H3T 1E4, Canada
  • b Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, McGill University, Montréal, Canada, CIUSSS du Centre-Ouest-de-l’île-de-Montréal, Montréal, Canada, Sherpa Research Centre, Montréal, Canada
  • c Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, McGill University, Montréal, Canada, CIUSSS du Centre-Ouest-de-l’île-de-Montréal, Montréal, Canada, Sherpa Research Centre, Montréal, Canada

Abstract

Asylum seeking children arriving in Canada regularly face incarceration in medium-security-style immigration detention centres. Research demonstrates the human cost of detaining migrant children and families and the psychiatric burden linked with such imprisonment. This study aims to understand the lived experiences of children aged 3–13 held in detention. Informed by a qualitative methodology of narrative inquiry, child participants created worlds in the sand and generated stories to express their subjective experience. Results suggest that children’s sandplay confirms the traumatic nature of immigration detention while also revealing children’s sometimes conflicting understanding of the meaning of detention and their own migration. The results are contextualized by a description of detention conditions and the psychiatric symptoms associated with immigration incarceration. The study highlights the need for more research examining the impact of immigration detention on children’s mental health, while also underlining how refugee children’s voices provide important direction for policy change. © 2017, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany.

Author Keywords

Immigration detention Children Mental health Asylum seeker Refugee Sandplay

Index Keywords

personal experience narrative refugee mental health human immigration Refugees trends violence detention procedures Mental Disorders mental disease asylum seeker school child Humans psychology Adolescent male Canada play therapy preschool child female storytelling Child, Preschool qualitative analysis Article migration posttraumatic stress disorder Emigration and Immigration Child
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85021166544&doi=10.1007%2fs00787-017-1012-0&partnerID=40&md5=670755552f3ebde3d92f4462c3c291fd
DOI: 10.1007/s00787-017-1012-0
ISSN: 10188827
Cited by: 5
Original Language: English