Psychological Support for Workers on the Move

This book examines the psychological pressures faced by workers who migrate for short periods, exploring what it means to work in high-stress environments, often on time-limited contracts and with low levels of support; and how best to protect this kind of key worker.
The text addresses three central questions. First, how we can think about the experiences of workers on the move? Second, what forms of support given by who, and when, provide the best staff care? Finally, how can appropriate and timely staff support by organisations influence the lives of workers on the move? The authors, all psychological therapists and many former international workers, offer recommendations for workers in humanitarian aid, the mission sector, international contracting and seafaring, among others, taking into account the changing world of work, and the impact on this of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Psychological Support for Workers on the Move provides essential guidance to organisations posting personnel internationally, to psychological and wellbeing therapists working with them, and to individual workers themselves

Kate S. Thompson, PhD, is a counselling psychologist with long experience supporting highly mobile clients including refugees in the UK, humanitarian staff and serving military personnel/veterans. Her key interests are in the impact of transition on identity, the social meaning of war and the use of community as a tool for healing.

1. 'Good fit' & righting the relationship - an exploration of employee & organisational relationships in the international aid sector 2. Building resilience among staff working internationally 3. Searching for security: An attachment perspective on aid worker relationships 4. A sticking plaster on a gaping wound: "Moral injury", stress and burn out in humanitarian aid workers 5. Sharing family dilemmas for those working internationally 6. Supporting grassroots aid workers and volunteers 7. Supporting those with religious faith in the humanitarian sector: cultural and psychotherapeutic considerations 8. Seafarers: 'They that go down to the sea in ships to do business in great waters' 9. Supporting international contractors working in aid and development contexts 10. Psychosocial support work with aid and development staff following sexual trauma 11. Working with children and young people whose families are working away from their home country 12. Who's the client? Limitations and advantages of therapeutic work as a psychological contractor for aid organisations 13. Meeting needs remotely - online support for international staff