Suicide among asylum seekers always a cause for great concern

On Tuesday, the Finnish Association for Mental Health expressed its justified concern regarding suicides among asylum seekers in Finland. As far as the Finnish Immigration Service is aware, there have been 15 to 20 suicide attempts at reception centres since October last year. Five of these have resulted in the death of the asylum seeker. The agency has not previously compiled statistics on the number of suicides among asylum seekers. Because of this, these numbers come from the reception centres themselves.

Suicide is always very sad and unfortunate. It is impossible to know the reasons behind these suicides. The asylum seekers in question have been at different stages of the asylum process and some of them have not yet received their first decision on their asylum application.

Waiting for an asylum decision at a reception centre is mentally very stressful for the asylum seeker. Some asylum seekers have also been through traumatising experiences. At the reception centres, the staff is aware of this and continuously work to find those who need help in time.

Guidelines and training to prevent suicides

The Finnish Immigration Service works to prevent suicides by offering guidance and training for the staff at the reception centres.

Last spring, the agency issued general guidelines for mental health work and supporting the clients in the everyday life at the reception centres. In the beginning of September, the staff at the reception centres was issued specific guidelines for identifying persons at risk of suicide and guidelines for what to do in these situations. If the asylum seeker cannot be helped using the support provided by the reception centre, he or she should be referred to a doctor.

The Finnish Immigration Service has already arranged training in mental health work for a number of years. During the training, the staff at the reception centres has been educated in therapy skills and preventive mental health work, among other things. This autumn there will also be training in mental health first aid.

Some deaths always occur in large groups

This year and last year a total of around twenty asylum seekers have died at the reception centres. Some have died of disease and others have lost their life in accidents. When taking into account that over 40,000 asylum seekers have been registered in the reception system during this time, the occurrence of suicides is rare.

The level of public interest in the reception centres has been high throughout the past year. This is understandable, as the exceptionally large number of asylum seekers last autumn meant that a reception centre was established in many new areas. During previous years, there have also been attempted suicides and, unfortunately, a small number of suicides at the reception centres.

Further information for the media

Olli Snellman, Head of Section, Reception Unit, tel. +358 295 430 431, e-mail: forename.surname@migri.fi

Päivi Hieta, Senior Adviser, Reception Unit, tel. +358 295 430 431, e-mail: forename.surname@migri.fi