ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on findings regarding the process of seeking asylum and specifically barriers which can prevent women being enabled to participate in either violence or trauma-related support, as well as social networks. It draws out aspects of harm mitigation and non-mitigation: what ameliorates the effects of previous traumatic experiences, what barriers might there be to engaging in such services or networks which do this, and what has the capacity to worsen mental and emotional health of women seeking asylum. The chapter discusses later in terms of uncertainty, there are key challenges in providing sense of safety since the process of seeking asylum is so precarious. It also focuses on aspects of survival rather than only on dominant discourses of victimhood often ascribed to women, and which has been deconstructed in depth across feminist literatures. The chapter highlights the limits of trauma-based models or the practice of counselling as the main focus of survival.
