Trauma, uncertain immigration status and suicide: building safety and reducing risk for people seeking asylum in the UK
“There have been times when I’ve tried to end my life before. Now I feel a sense of purpose and support and these feelings don’t feel like they will come back.”
As Suicide Prevention Awareness Month draws to a close, we hold in mind the many people seeking safety in the UK who live with thoughts of ending their lives.
Research shows strong links between trauma, uncertain immigration status and suicide. While we cannot change past trauma, we can positively influence people's lives in the present. Security, connection and long‑term support can help people rebuild hope and resilience, acting as protective factors against suicide.
Across the sector, individuals, communities and organisations work committedly to build that sense of safety. Yet much of this work is undone by asylum processes that prolong uncertainty, move people away from their support networks and disrupt access to sustaining networks.
Adversity before, during and after arrival
“Perhaps if I had been away from the problems that happen to us, the results would have been better, but the past and the present, and everything that makes me miss safety, peace, comfort, inner calm.”
Many people seeking asylum have lived through war, torture or oppression in their country of origin, then survived dangerous journeys to reach safety. On arrival, they can meet an asylum system that retraumatises. It asks them to retell traumatic events, meets their accounts with disbelief, and leaves them waiting years for a decision. Alongside this sit hostility, racism and divisive public discourse. At each stage of migration, adversity raises the risk of depression, PTSD, psychosis and suicidality (Mittendorfer‑Rutz, 2026).
An international systematic review found PTSD in 31% of adult refugees and people seeking asylum, and depression in 31.5%. In the general population, lifetime prevalence is 3.9% for PTSD and 12% for any depressive disorder (Blackmore et al., 2020, cited in Mental Health Foundation, 2025). Among refugees in non‑clinical populations, 20.5% report suicidal ideation (Haase et al., 2022, cited in Wetherall, 2024).
Why feeling safe and settled matters
A 2026 review of global evidence found that people seeking asylum "consistently show higher suicide risk in comparative studies", particularly those "facing prolonged detention, insecure residency, or disrupted access to care". In contrast, several studies report lower suicide rates among refugees with residence permits in high‑income countries than in the host population (Mittendorfer‑Rutz, 2026). In other words, the same populations who carry high risk while their future is uncertain can show lower risk once they are safe and settled.
The UK evidence reflects this. In Glasgow, contacts related to suicide and self‑harm among people receiving asylum support rose from 21 in April 2020 to 75 in July 2020, as many were moved from flats into hotels (Laing, 2020). Suspected suicides in Home Office accommodation more than doubled between 2020 and 2023, compared with the previous four years (Walawalkar and Taylor, 2023).
This matters now. For claims made from 2 March 2026, people granted protection receive 30 months' protection and "will have to wait 20 years for settlement, unless they switch to a legal visa route" (Home Office, 2026). The evidence suggests that prolonging insecurity prolongs risk.
Unseen and uncounted
We do not know how many people seeking asylum die by suicide in the UK. Neither asylum nor refugee status is recorded when a death is registered, and the government does not routinely collect this data. The figures we have come from independent investigations and small clinical samples.
Where people do reach services, their risk can go unrecognised. In a national study of mental health patients who died by suicide, clinicians had judged 76% of those seeking permission to stay to be at low long‑term risk, compared with 57% of non‑migrants. The authors note that current models of suicide risk have been "built based on understandings from White Western populations" and may not apply (Tham et al., 2023).
Many never reach services at all. The same authors describe people seeking permission to stay as "highly unlikely to seek or have access to mental health care", so their figures are likely to be an underestimate.
What really helps
“ There have been times when I’ve tried to end my life before. Now I feel a sense of purpose and support and these feelings don’t feel like they will come back.”
When people we support describe what helped, they describe feeling safe, supported and hopeful. UNHCR's protective factors against suicide include "strong connections to individuals, family, community, and social institutions", "economic opportunity and stability" and "access to quality mental health care and psychosocial support" (UNHCR, 2023). The 2026 review adds social support, family cohesion and individual coping strategies (Mittendorfer‑Rutz, 2026).
Yet the barriers that raise risk also keep people from care. Language, stigma, restricted access and "disrupted continuity of care" all increase suicide risk (Mittendorfer‑Rutz, 2026). Repeated moves between asylum accommodation break the continuity that care depends on.
Trauma is always about connection gone wrong: connection lost, abandoned, abused or made violent. The antidote is caring, respectful, reparative connection. This is at the heart of our work.
For people seeking asylum, that connection can come from therapy, from communities, and from systems that offer safety rather than uncertainty. Together, we can make sure no one is left to struggle alone, and that people are consistently met with care rather than harm.
Working courageously and creatively with forcibly displaced people and suicide
If you support refugees and people seeking asylum who are considering ending their lives, this two‑hour online training explores what influences and protects them, what the work brings up for us, and how to look after ourselves. Find the next session here.
Support
If anything in this piece affects you, you can contact Samaritans free, day or night, on 116 123 or by email at jo@samaritans.org.
References
• Blackmore, R., Boyle, J.A., Fazel, M., Ranasinha, S., Gray, K.M., Fitzgerald, G., Misso, M. and Gibson‑Helm, M. (2020) 'The prevalence of mental illness in refugees and asylum seekers: a systematic review and meta‑analysis', PLoS Medicine, 17(9), e1003337. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1003337
• Haase, E., Schönfelder, A., Nesterko, Y. and Glaesmer, H. (2022) 'Prevalence of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts among refugees: a meta‑analysis', BMC Public Health, 22, 635. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-13029-8
• Home Office (2026) Written statement HCWS1373: changes to refugee protection. UK Parliament, 2 March. Available at: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2026-03-02/hcws1373 (Accessed: 28 September 2026).
• Khan Amiri, D., Madsen, T., Norredam, M., Brande, S.E., Mittendorfer‑Rutz, E., Nordentoft, M. and Erlangsen, A. (2023) 'Suicide and suicide attempts among asylum‑seekers in Denmark', Archives of Suicide Research, 27(2), pp. 415‑425. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13811118.2021.2011809
• Laing, H. (2020) Evaluation of accommodation and support services experienced by asylum seekers in Glasgow during COVID‑19. UK Visas and Immigration. Available at: https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/21604279/foi-61496-revised-response-annex-a22.pdf (Accessed: 28 September 2026).
• Mental Health Foundation (2025) The mental health of asylum seekers and refugees in the UK: 2025 edition. Mental Health Foundation.
• Mittendorfer‑Rutz, E. (2026) 'Suicidality of refugees and asylum seekers: prevalence rates in a global perspective and implications for global mental health', European Psychiatry, 69(Suppl. 1), p. S18. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1192/j.eurpsy.2026.10368
• Tham, S.G., Hunt, I.M., Turnbull, P., Appleby, L., Kapur, N. and Knipe, D. (2023) 'Suicide among psychiatric patients who migrated to the UK: a national clinical survey', eClinicalMedicine, 57, 101859. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2023.101859
• UNHCR (2023) Planning for prevention and risk mitigation of suicide in refugee settings: a toolkit for multisectoral action. Field‑test version. UNHCR.
• Walawalkar, A. and Taylor, D. (2023) 'Suicides of asylum seekers in Home Office accommodation double in last four years', Liberty Investigates, 21 December. Available at: https://libertyinvestigates.org.uk/articles/suicides-of-asylum-seekers-in-home-office-accommodation-double-in-last-four-years/ (Accessed: 28 September 2026).
• Wetherall, K. (2024) 'Are asylum seekers in the UK at increased risk of suicide?', Suicidal Behaviour Research Laboratory, 25 June. Available at: https://suicideresearch.info/2024/06/25/are-asylum-seekers-in-the-uk-at-increased-risk-of-suicide/ (Accessed: 28 September 2026).