This article examines the legal challenges asylum seekers arriving by boat to Australia experience when seeking assistance with their claims and its impact on their mental health. The authors outline the experiences of asylum seekers in the “legacy caseload” group who have been waiting up to four years to have their protection claims assessed. The complex interplay between legal assistance to support refugee claims and the way those making claims inevitably struggle to understand, engage and participate in the process is analysed. It is argued that provision of legal assistance for this group will be essential to ensuring that the refugee status determination process is fair and allows asylum seekers to understand and participate more fully in the process. Recent changes to the assessment of claims combined with a reduction in funding for legal assistance create significant hurdles and combine to compound existing stress and emotional trauma leading to detrimental outcomes on the mental health of asylum seekers.

中文翻译：

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“遗留案件”中寻求庇护者的心理健康和法律代理

本文探讨了寻求庇护者乘船到达澳大利亚时在寻求援助时所面临的法律挑战，以及对精神健康的影响。作者概述了“遗留案件”组中寻求庇护者的经历，他们等待了长达四年的时间才对他们的保护要求进行评估。分析了支持难民请求的法律援助与提出请求的人不可避免地难以理解，参与和参与该过程之间的复杂相互作用。有人认为，向这一群体提供法律援助对于确保难民地位确定过程公正且使寻求庇护者能够更充分地理解和参与该过程至关重要。