RECOMMENDATION 28:
The Department, IHMS and Serco
staff working in the centre should be
provided with adequate and ongoing
mental health training and specific
training regarding trauma, its impacts
and working with traumatised people.
Figure 12: Interview rooms
RECOMMENDATION 29:
The Department, IHMS and Serco
should ensure a Trauma Management
Plan should be developed for everyone
who has experienced torture and
trauma. This plan should form part of
the existing Individual Management
Plan that guides the collaborative work
and approach of staff in the centre.
In the Commission’s 2017 inspection, it heard similar
concerns and reported that
some commented that the assistance
provided by their case managers [as they
were commonly known at that time] was
very limited or not helpful in resolving their
situation. Several people expressed confusion
about the case management process, with
some indicating that they did not know who
their case manager was or how to contact
them.93
Many people interviewed said that they were
unhappy with the interactions, or lack of
interactions, they had with status resolution staff.
Many disclosed that status resolution ‘does not help
and provides no updates’, and another remarked
that they only give ‘no’ answers. One person spoken
to said that, on the day of interview, that he had
just had his first in person interview with status
resolution since being detained almost two years
ago.
In the 2019 inspections, those same concerns were
repeated, and the Commission was told that ‘about
half of the population [at YHIDC] are managed by
a status resolution officer locally with access to
face to-face contact. However, the other half are
managed remotely by phone with no access to faceto-face contact.’94
Yongah Hill Immigration Detention Centre Inspection Report • 2024 • 53