History of QPASTT

 

In the lead up to QPASTT's establishment in 1995, there was growing momentum for a national program to support survivors of torture and trauma.  During the 1990s there had been a range of specialised services provided in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth as well as research gathered to demonstrate the long term impacts of unmet mental health issues as a result of trauma from a refugee experience.

In Queensland, in 1991, in response to a group of Latin-American women's expressions of concern about areas in which their needs as refugee survivors of torture & trauma were not being met, an initial consultation was carried out by the Brisbane Women's Health Centre. Following this, the Brisbane Refugee Torture and Trauma Research and Support Project was initiated by the Brisbane Women's Health Centre early in 1992. A small amount of funds were obtained from the Consumer Health Forum of Australia and a research and support project was undertaken with four language groups in Brisbane - Spanish speaking, Farsi speaking, Vietnamese speaking and Khmer speaking.

The primary aim of the project was to provide a mechanism so that survivors from these communities could themselves express their needs in relation to recovery and resettlement; to provide interim support to those participating in the project; and to produce a report documenting the findings.

The vast majority of people consulted welcomed the acknowledgment and the opportunity to talk about their needs. The four communities responded in very different ways to the questionnaire and the responses were analysed and discussed within the context of the specific culture to be properly understood, particularly in relation to service provision in Brisbane.

The needs and the expectations of how those needs would best be met were culturally determined, therefore any service aimed at providing support and assistance to torture and trauma survivors had to be flexible and adaptable in it is approach and response, had to maintain open communication, and had to be prepared to provide very practical assistance in the areas of social, welfare, and educational assistance, as well as counselling, medical and a range of therapeutic assistance, and community development. The outcomes of this report formed the blueprint for the establishment of  QPASTT.

ln December 1994, the Federal government established the national funding program PASTT (program of assistance to survivors of torture and trauma) and  asked the Brisbane Refugee Torture & Trauma Research and Support Group to establish a new community based service for survivors of torture and trauma in Queensland.  QPASTT opened its doors in 1995, auspiced by the Brisbane Migrant Resource Centre.  Paula Peterson, Sheenah Turnbull and Desi Castillo were the first employees.  Rita Prasad-Ildes, convenor of the Brisbane Refugee Torture and Trauma Research and Support Group, was succeeded by George Belfrage, as the first Chairperson of QPASTT following incorporation  who was then succeeded by Dr Ian Mannion and followed by Keithia Wilson, who is the current Chair.  Within a month of starting, QPASTT funding was doubled by Queensland Health and another two workers joined the team.  Three years later in 1998, under the Integrated Humanitarian Settlement Service (IHSS), four more workers were employed and QPASTT has continued to expand since that time.  In 2007, the Toowoomba office was opened to accommodate the increasing numbers of arrivals settling in the Toowoomba and Gatton region, predominantly Sudanese.

A number of original members from the Brisbane Refugee Torture and Trauma Research and Suport Group, Rita Prasad-Ildes, Elvia and Marco Ramirez, Dr Ian Mannion, Saeed Gujari, and Hussein Ahmed remained involved in QPASTT over the years and some have remained engaged with the service to this day.