Multilingual mental health support and information

  • Clear Voiceis a social enterprise run by the UK charity Migrant Help and provides interpreting and translation services. These include professional telephone, video, and face-to-face interpreting, as well as translations, Sign Language, Braille, and Easy Read services for NGO’s, businesses, public sector organisations, legal firms, especially, those working with refugees and asylum seekers across the UK.

    According to the Clear Voice website, 100% of its profits are donated to its parent charity, Migrant Help. These funds are used to support other Migrant Help projects, such as the Community Hubs and InPower projects, or partner charities, including the Happy Baby Community. The InPower Project funds unemployed refugees and migrants into education, allowing them to start work as professional interpreters. Once qualified, they can begin working with Clear Voice as professional interpreters.

  • Doctors of the World UK offers a collection of translated health resources for individuals with diverse linguistic backgrounds. These include guidance on registering with a GP and understanding how the NHS works. Resources are available as infographics, PDFs, and videos, and can be searched by keyword, topic, language, or format.

  • The NHS Inform Scotland website offers health information in a variety of languages and formats, including British Sign Language (BSL), Easy Read, audio, large print, and written translations in several languages.

    There is also a specific page dedicated to Healthcare for refugees and asylum seekers, which covers entitlement, GP-registration, emergency services, interpreter access, cost exemptions, and helplines.

  • Mental Health Foundation is dedicated to preventing mental ill health and promoting positive mental well-being across the UK. It provides mental health tips, guidance, and resources, including specific support for refugees and asylum seekers, with some materials available in multiple languages.

  • Mental Health Foundation Scotland has produced a series of short films to support the mental health of refugees and asylum seekers. These are available in English, Arabic, Dari, and Pashto:

  • Migrant Help has developed a multilingual guide that walks asylum seekers through each stage of the asylum process. It is designed to assist individuals seeking asylum in navigating the system, understanding their rights and responsibilities, and making informed decisions.

  • The Migrant Information Hub was created by Migration Yorkshire in March 2020. It is managed and partially funded by Migration Yorkshire, with additional support from the European Union’s Asylum, Migration, and Integration Fund (AMIF) through the Refugee Integration Project.

    The Hub provides resources and information on topics such as health, housing, education, immigration, and many more, in multiple languages. It serves both service providers and migrants, supporting people from culturally diverse backgrounds across Yorkshire and the Humber.

  • Mind and its local branches including East Sussex Mind, West Sussex Mind, and Oxfordshire Mind, provide translated mental health resources, such as leaflets and factsheets in multiple languages. These translations help ensure better accessibility for non-English speakers and people from diverse communities.

  • Nafsiyat Intercultural Therapy Centre is a London-based organisation that provides culturally sensitive psychotherapy and counselling to individuals from ethnically diverse backgrounds, including refugees and asylum seekers. Their services are delivered in over 20 languages, with a primary focus on residents of Islington, Enfield, Camden, and Haringey. 

    The centre offers two main services, short-term NHS funded therapy which is Free for residents of Islington, Enfield, Camden, and Haringey, available via GP or self-referral; and Nafsiyat Choice, a paid service offering ongoing, long-term therapy, open to clients across the UK.

  • 'Off The Record' Croydon refugee service provides confidential support to refugees, asylum seekers and forced migrants aged between 11–25 who reside in Croydon. 

    OTR offers informative leaflets on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and sleeping difficulties, tips for improving sleep, audio resources covering breathing and relaxation techniques, and strategies for managing anxiety. These resources are available in multiple languages to support the mental health and well-being of youth refugees.

  • Asylum Guides is a programme developed by Refugee Action to support both organisations working with asylum seekers and asylum seekers themselves throughout the asylum process. The programme offers resources in multiple languages, available in both video and information sheet formats. These resources can be found on Refugee Action’s Asylum Guides YouTube channel, where they are organised into playlists.

  • The Right to Remain Toolkit provides a practical guide to the UK immigration and asylum system. It offers an overview of the legal framework and procedures, along with detailed information on the rights of asylum seekers, available options at key stages, and steps they can take to support their own claim or assist someone else through the process.  Right to Remain also offers YouTube presentations introducing the Toolkit in a several languages:

  • The Royal College of Psychiatrists' mental health page offers user-friendly, evidence-based information on a range of mental health topics, including a section on mental illnesses and mental health problems for patients, carers, families, and friends, available in multiple languages.

    In addition, the RCPsych website features a dedicated page titled Asylum seeker and refugee mental health, which provides guidance and resources for health and social care professionals supporting this population in the UK.

  • Sussex Interpreting Services is a charitable social enterprise based in Brighton that provides professional services, including community interpreting, translation, and bilingual advocacy, to support clients during interactions with public services. These services are free for refugees, asylum seekers, and other non-English speakers. 

    The SIS website also offers a downloadable information booklet outlining their services in multiple languages. In addition, SIS has produced dual-language appointment letters to help service providers communicate key details, such as date, time, location, and preparatory instructions, to clients in both English and their native language. These letters promote clarity and help reduce misunderstandings.

This page offers a selection of reliable national and international mental health organisations that provide an extensive collection of translated resources and information in multiple languages, tailored for refugees and asylum-seeking adults and the professionals supporting them.

These materials include information on various physical and mental health conditions as well as offering guidance on how to cope with and manage post-migration stressors, as refugee and asylum-seeking adults settle and adapt to life in a new country.

Access the resources by following the links below.

National resources

International resources

  • The Canadian Mental Health Association website offers mental health support and information in both French and English.

  • The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Canada’s largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital, offers multilingual resources designed to provide information on mental illness to individuals for whom English is not a first language, as well as to professionals working with clients from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Users can click on a language to view the available resources.

  • Embrace Multicultural Mental Health, funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care, provides comprehensive translated information and fact sheets on a variety of mental health conditions in multiple languages for people from culturally diverse backgrounds. Users can use the search box to select a language or resource topic to filter the available information.

  • The Health Information Translations website provides educational resources, carefully translated to promote health and wellness, in multiple languages. These are intended for healthcare professionals and others working with communities where English is not the primary language.

    The project is a collaborative effort by health education specialists from four major health systems in Central Ohio: Mount Carmel Health System, OhioHealth, Nationwide Children's Hospital, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Centre, and the Central Ohio Hospital Council. 

    Users can use the search box to select a language, health topic, or keyword to filter the available information.

  • Health Translations is a free online library of Australian multilingual health and wellbeing information funded by the Victorian Government and managed by the Centre for Culture, Ethnicity and Health. It is designed for health practitioners working with culturally and linguistically diverse communities, as well as for individuals themselves, offering reliable translated health information. 

    The website allows users to filter and search resources by language, or by health topic. You can also filter by keyword, type, organisation, and more, through an advanced search interface.

  • Here to Help is a project of the British Columbia Partners for Mental Health and Substance Use Information, a coalition of seven leading mental health and substance use non-profit agencies in BC. These organisations work collaboratively to support people, including migrant populations, live well and to better prevent and manage mental health and substance use challenges. 

    Here to Help offers a resource library that includes a wide range of materials on mental health, mental illness, and substance use problems, available in English and several other languages. 

    These materials are developed and tested through a community-based process to ensure that the translations are both accurate and culturally sensitive.

  • The Kelty Mental Health Resource Centre is a free, family-focused service based at British Columbia Children’s Hospital in Vancouver. The centre supports families with children or youth up to age 24 who have mental health or substance use concerns, including migrant families. 

    Services offered include peer support; information and resources such as guides, toolkits, and educational materials on mental health, substance use, and eating disorders; the Ask Kelty Tool, an interactive guide to help families navigate mental health and substance use services in BC; multilingual resources; school and community resources; and multimedia resources including podcasts, videos, and webinars.

  • MedlinePlus is a website produced by the U.S. National Library of Medicine, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the world’s largest medical library. It provides a wealth of free, reliable health information in multiple languages. The website allows users to filter and search resources by language and health topic.

  • The Mental Health and Human Rights Info Database is an international resource that offers a valuable database containing references, publications, guides, organisations, and more, covering key topics related to mental health and human rights violations in the context of disaster, war, and conflict. The information is organised into thematic pages and the website is available in both English and Spanish.

    The MHRRI website also offers Gender-Based Violence Training Manuals designed for those who support survivors of gender-based violence or train professionals working directly with them. The manuals are available in multiple languages and cover working with:

  • The Multicultural Mental Health Resource Centre in Canada was developed with funding from the Mental Health Commission of Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. 

    The website offers resources for culturally diverse populations experiencing mental health challenges, their families, community organisations, and healthcare professionals working with them.

    The centre provides resources in multiple languages to support culturally safe and competent mental health care for diverse populations.

  • The Red Cross Red Crescent Movement MHPSS Hub, hosted by the Danish Red Cross, works to advance mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) across the RCRC Movement.

    It partners with National Societies, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), humanitarian organisations, and academic institutions to support the mental well-being of vulnerable communities, staff, and volunteers, especially during crises.

    The Hub promotes mental health as a fundamental right and offers resources including guides & tools, videos, and podcasts, some of which are available in a range of languages and can be filtered by language or topic.

  • Tarjimly is a non-profit humanitarian technology organisation and mobile app that connects refugees, immigrants, and professionals working with them with on-demand translators and interpreters in real time.

    The name “Tarjimly” comes from the Arabic phrase which means “translate for me.” Its mission is to eliminate humanitarian language barriers on a global scale, increasing the efficiency of humanitarian services and improving the lives of refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants. 

    Tarjimly’s joint mobile and web platforms offer Tarjimly Essentials, a free translation and interpretation service available at the click of a button. This service is accessible to individuals facing language barriers, as well as non-profit organisations, educational institutions, healthcare providers, humanitarian workers, and volunteers.

  • The Transcultural Mental Health Centre is an NSW Health state-wide service hosted within the Western Sydney Local Health District. It provides a broad range of resources for people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities, as well as health professionals working with them across New South Wales..

    These resources are intended to promote good mental health and culturally appropriate care. They are organised by title and by language:

  • The official UNHCR website includes a link to the HELP website, which serves as an information hub, for refugees, asylum-seekers, and stateless people. This page offers practical guidance on topics such as asylum applications and procedures, as well as access to social, financial, travel, education, and accommodation assistance.

    The content is available in multiple languages and tailored to specific countries. In addition, the website features a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section providing information about the asylum process, the rights of refugees and asylum-seekers, education opportunities, how to report concerns or make complaints, and contact details for UNHCR offices in various countries. 

    The official UNHCR website is available in multiple languages.

  • The World Health Organisation is a United Nations agency responsible for international public health. It works to promote health, keep the world safe by coordinating international responses to health emergencies, setting international health standards, and supporting countries in achieving better health outcomes. Its priorities include disease prevention and the promotion of well-being for all people including refugees and displaced populations worldwide.  

    While WHO is not a mental health organisation, it leads several mental health initiatives. These include publications, available in multiple languages, on:

CARE adult resources