Considering Spiritual Care for Religiously Involved LGBTQI Migrants and Refugees: A Tentative Map

Abstract

This paper describes research relevant to spiritual care for LGBTQI refugees and migrants. The literature indicates some distinct challenges faced by religiously involved LGBTQI migrants and refugees. LGBTQI migrants and refugees may not be able to experience family and religion as supportive compared to migrants and refugees who do not identify as LGBTQI. Such migrants and refugees thus face elevated levels of mental health challenges compared to non-LGBTQI refugees and they also face additional mental health risks compared to non-refugee LGBTQI adults and youth. Such risks include suicidality, depression, substance abuse, social isolation, internalised religious homonegativity, shame and risks to sexual health and a breakdown in the ability to trust others and caregivers. The paper identifies five seminal areas for extending care in the light of the research. These include building trust and properly assessing risk, working towards relational health, helping clients move to new ways of constructing and conceiving of family, easing the influence of internalised homonegativity and shame, and finding written and human resources that will be helpful to clients. These areas of care only present a tentative map as this issue requires more research and reflection.

Why Chaplaincy at Asylum Centers is a Good Idea: A Care Ethics Perspective on Spiritual Care for Refugees

“…As sociologist Nancy Ammerman ( 2010 ) argued, in increasingly diverse societies, people have access to and are building on a variety of sources for meaning-making, some of them religious, some of them personal, social or cultural, and anything in between. For refugees specifically, religiosity can be a source of meaning and disorientation (Adedoyin et al, 2016 ; Fensham, 2021 ). Spiritual and religious beliefs and practices have been found to be positively related to the well-being of refugees and a strategy to deal with the challenges and for instance, discrimination experienced in host countries (Adedoyin et al, 2016 ; Hodge, 2019 ).…”

“…Spiritual and religious beliefs and practices have been found to be positively related to the well-being of refugees and a strategy to deal with the challenges and for instance, discrimination experienced in host countries (Adedoyin et al, 2016 ; Hodge, 2019 ). Religiously involved LGBTQIA + refugees, however, for instance, have reported on “experiences of internalised religious messaging inducing shame, self-blame, and suicidal ideation and attempts at suicide which led to a rejection of organised religion.” (Fensham, 2021 , p 4). What is more, LGBTQIA + refugees do experience discrimination from the native population.…”