ABSTRACT
The chapter puts forward group and community approaches as particularly suited to working with survivors of human rights abuses. It examines the conditions in which people seek asylum and begin the process of rebuilding their lives in the UK, and asserts that these conditions represent a major obstacle to the right to rehabilitation and the restoration of dignity. The asylum system implemented by the British government is identified as institutionally racist and as central to this obstacle. Groupwork, drawing on social action and liberation psychology ideas and practices, is presented as a foundation for the restoration of dignity. Group examples are used to demonstrate how such approaches can promote connection, the rebuilding of trust and empowerment, and can play an essential role in enabling survivors to overcome the hostility of the asylum environment and its barriers to rehabilitation.
