The role of social workers in psychosocial interventions and filling the gaps in refugee protection regulations

Introduction

Refugees are individuals or groups forced to flee their country of origin due to a well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion. The 1951 Refugee Convention defines a refugee as someone who is outside their country of nationality and is unable or unwilling to avail themselves of that country’s protection due to a perceived fear of persecution. Meanwhile, there is a small difference with the asylum seeker, who is an individual who has applied for international protection, but whose status has not been officially recognized; every refugee is initially an asylum seeker, but not all asylum seekers are recognized as such. This distinction in status has significant implications for the rights and protections they receive, as well as their access to much-needed mental health services.

In recent decades, armed conflicts and global humanitarian crises have triggered unprecedented waves of mass displacement, making support for refugees an urgent humanitarian imperative. Refugees worldwide experience various difficulties in obtaining protection, both in terms of human rights protection and broadly restrictive policies (Cabada and Murray, 2024). Among the main sources of displacement, armed conflict is the dominant cause of large-scale displacement. This displacement even outnumbers natural disasters (Seberini et al., 2025; Suryanti et al., 2023). The 2001 Liberian conflict resulted in the displacement of 215,000 refugees, followed by more than 6 million Ukrainian refugees, 7 million Palestinian refugees and more than 1.2 million Rohingya refugees scattered throughout the world (Bogic et al., 2015; Macková, 2025; Numadi, 2023; Refugees International, 2023; Sakib, 2025). The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) (2015) reports that war has resulted in the displacement of approximately 19 million refugees worldwide, with predictions that the duration of war-related displacement will exceed 20 years before they can return to their places of origin. The urgency of providing psychosocial support is increasingly critical given that these populations not only face the trauma of war and persecution in their countries of origin, but also experience ongoing psychological distress due to uncertainty about their legal status, social discrimination and limited access to mental health services in their destination countries.

In the case of Rohingya refugees in Aceh, Indonesia, for example, many of them, who have experienced severe persecution at home, face additional pressures such as social rejection at their destination (Numadi, 2023; Pohan, 2024; Taib et al., 2024). Rohingya refugees spread across Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand were initially welcomed in these countries. However, in the process, local socioeconomic challenges and weak legal protections further alienated them, even fuelling anti-Rohingya sentiment.

Indeed, ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations), which comprises Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, has witnessed diverse responses among its member states to the Rohingya refugee influx. In Thailand, the government facilitated the settlement of 109,800 refugees by establishing temporary shelter camps (Chuah, 2023). Later, the Thai government implemented a policy known as pushback in response to the unmanageable surge (HRW, 2023). A study by Manullang et al. (2024) revealed that the Thai government’s firm stance was inseparable from national security concerns, which were being faced in the context of socioeconomic challenges. Unlike Thailand and Malaysia, the governments of Cambodia and Singapore have consistently rejected Rohingya refugees from the outset, citing their unwillingness to risk national security and their country’s revenue (Narim and Hawkins, 2017; Shukri, 2021). While countries like Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia have demonstrated a similar spirit regarding refugees. The governments of these three countries emphasize the humanitarian value of accepting refugees, but with certain limitations. Malaysia and Indonesia provide temporary shelter, and the Philippines caps the population at 3000 refugees (Khairi et al., 2024; Nguyen, 2022). ASEAN countries’ response to the Rohingya Muslim refugees has not been fully effective, due to the principle of non-interference, which prohibits member states from intervening in each other’s internal affairs (Sulaiman et al., 2021). For analytical clarity, this article examines the role of social workers in addressing psychosocial challenges among refugees in transit contexts, with particular attention to countries that have not ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention, such as Indonesia. Moreover, this article focuses on refugees as a recognized population under international protection frameworks. While acknowledging that many individuals in transit contexts may be asylum seekers, the discussion centres on refugees to ensure conceptual and practical coherence.

The Indonesian context

This section situates the role of social workers within Indonesia’s legal and policy framework for refugee protection, highlighting how gaps in formal refugee regulation shape psychosocial service provision. Indonesia’s non-ratification of the 1951 Refugee Convention significantly limits the scope and effectiveness of protection efforts for refugees, creating legal gaps in the national framework. However, Indonesia has a constitutional basis and national regulations for the handling of refugees. Article 28G paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution states that ‘every person has the right to be free from torture or treatment that degrades human dignity and has the right to obtain political asylum from another country’. The phrase ‘every person’ indicates the universality of this guaranteed right. It is not limited to Indonesian citizens but applies to anyone in Indonesian territory, including refugees (Pio et al., 2021). However, it is important to clarify that Article 28G paragraph (2) does not directly apply to asylum seekers in the context of granting formal legal status or full rights as stipulated in the 1951 Refugee Convention. This constitutional provision serves as a philosophical and moral foundation that recognizes universal human rights, legitimizing Indonesia to provide humanitarian-based temporary protection, rather than full refugee status recognition.

To operationalize this constitutional mandate, the Indonesian government issued Presidential Regulation No. 125 of 2016 concerning the Handling of Refugees from Abroad. This Presidential Regulation regulates four main coordination functions: (1) discovery – identification and rescue of refugees entering Indonesian territory; (2) shelter – provision of temporary housing; (3) security – monitoring of refugee activities; and (4) immigration supervision (Suryanti and Muttaqin, 2024). The relevance of Presidential Regulation 125/2016 lies in providing a more transparent legal framework for coordination between the central government, regional governments and international organizations such as UNHCR and IOM in handling refugees. This Presidential Regulation also pays special attention to vulnerable refugees such as children, pregnant women, people with disabilities and the elderly. However, its implementation still faces significant challenges, including minimal coordination between the central and regional governments, the rejection of some regional governments due to limited capacity and budget, and legal uncertainty (Bintarawati et al., 2023; Fitria, 2015; Pitaloka et al., 2024; Qothrunnada and Shidfan, 2024). The refugees being considered only as foreigners are in need of temporary protection. In the context of the role of social workers, Presidential Decree 125/2016 opens up a collaborative space for psychosocial services. However, it does not yet regulate specific mental health protocols for refugee populations.

Current situation of refugees in Indonesia

Understanding the current living conditions of refugees in Indonesia is essential for assessing the scope and limitations of psychosocial interventions that social workers can realistically provide. Indonesia is currently a transit country for thousands of refugees facing extremely challenging and uncertain living conditions. According to UNHCR data as of January 2025, Indonesia hosts 12,177 refugees from 53 countries. The majority are from Afghanistan (48%), Myanmar (22%) and Somalia (9%). There was a new registered increase from 872 in 2022 to 2547 in 2023. Refugees are spread across various regions, including Aceh, Medan, Pekanbaru, Tanjung Pinang, Batam, Java, Bali, Makassar, and Kupang. Since 2023, approximately 2500 Rohingya refugees have arrived by sea in Aceh. Of the total refugee population, nearly one-third are children with minimal access to health and education services.

The living conditions of refugees in Indonesia are characterized by significant challenges in meeting basic needs, social integration and prolonged uncertainty about their future. Most refugees live in urban areas with minimal access to essential health services, education and economic opportunities. The Indonesian government continues to prohibit refugees from working and earning a living, even though many have specialized education and skills, such as lecturers, lawyers and journalists. Refugee placement is also irregular: some are placed in temporary shelters under tight security, while others are free to live in residential areas such as Cisarua, Bogor and South Tangerang without adequate supervision. In some areas, such as Deli Serdang Regency, hundreds of refugees are even housed in sub-district offices due to the lack of adequate shelter facilities. This inconsistency reflects weak coordination between the central and regional governments, limited resources and the suboptimal implementation of the Presidential Regulation (Suryanti, 2023).

The most alarming impact of this situation is the mental health crisis experienced by refugees. A 2023 collaborative study by the University of New South Wales (UNSW), SUAKA, Gadjah Mada University and Refugee Learning Nest identified five primary sources of stress faced by refugees: inability to work, uncertainty about visa status, lack of funds for daily needs, fear of deportation and difficulty accessing education (Suaka, 2023). More than 80% of study participants stated that these factors significantly disrupted their lives (Suaka, 2023). Refugees’ psychological well-being is further worsened by the UNHCR’s lengthy status determination process and strict restrictions imposed by destination countries on accepting refugees, leaving them trapped in a prolonged limbo with no certainty about their future. The main obstacles hindering their mental health recovery include low awareness about mental health, limited access to affordable health services, language barriers and a lack of community to socialize with. Refugee women face particular challenges in accessing reproductive and mental health services, as well as addressing gender-based violence such as domestic violence and sexual violence. In some cases, refugee women give birth in dire conditions and even stillbirths due to a lack of maternity services. In this context, the psychosocial interventions proposed in this article become highly relevant and urgent to help refugees achieve resilience and improve their quality of life amidst existing structural limitations.

Recent studies show the fact that the lives of refugees are identified with a series of dynamic personal and social transitions followed by mental health problems such as depression and even suicide (Bevione et al., 2024; Heer et al., 2024; Uhr et al., 2025). This global trend in the psychosocial problems of displacement is similarly evident in Southeast Asian countries, where refugees face significant challenges such as limited access to legal protection, social discrimination and inadequate psychosocial support services. Recent studies in the region highlight increased prevalence of mental health issues among refugees, including depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD; Brooks et al., 2024; Nguyen et al., 2024). This indicates the urgent need for culturally sensitive and coordinated psychosocial interventions tailored to local contexts.

The difficulties faced by refugees who are victims of violence are visible from the lack of protective measures against conditions which cause discrimination and negative attitudes towards refugees. These conditions are exacerbated by limited access to legal protection, which makes opportunities for intervention increasingly slim, as can be seen in several countries that are members of the ASEAN (Jayanti and Sagena, 2024; Mawardi and Firdaus, 2025). Some of the countries in these regions have become destinations for Rohingya refugees that were expelled by the Myanmar Military. ASEAN countries, based on the principle of non-intervention, provide only humanitarian assistance for refugees without further intervention in Myanmar’s domestic affairs.

These challenges extend to resources supporting the psychosocial recovery of refugees, such as training and education of healthcare professionals (Ruiz de Garibay and Azman, 2025; Utami and Ngo, 2024). Therefore, addressing the region’s fragile psychosocial disparities is an urgent imperative.

Humanitarian institutions in social work

This section examines how humanitarian institutions and partnerships in Indonesia create both opportunities and constraints for social workers in delivering psychosocial support to refugees. Although the legality of refugee protection in Indonesia has not been explicitly stated, the constitution implicitly guarantees human rights. Furthermore, Presidential Regulation No. 125 of 2016 mandates partnerships between the national government and protection agencies such as the UNHCR and IOM. The existence of these institutions aligns with the primary objectives of social work, which focus on individual well-being and the protection of human rights (Abdillah and Darwis, 2024; Chang-Muy and Congress, 2023; Harding and Libal, 2012). Universal humanitarian values guide national and regional governments in providing temporary shelter. Meanwhile, the UNHCR and IOM are working together to address the needs of refugees in shelters. This partnership between national governments and non-governmental organizations is evident, for example, in the protection of Rohingya refugees in Aceh.

In early 2022, when a boat carrying Rohingya refugees approached Acehnese waters, the Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs wrote to the Governor of Aceh Province regarding rescue and humanitarian assistance for the refugees. The Governor followed up with military personnel, police, and search and rescue teams to facilitate the boat’s landing and provide temporary shelter (IOM Indonesia, 2022). Then, the UNHCR and IOM collaborated to facilitate the administration of refugees’ identities, fulfilling their needs for bedding, food and psychosocial support.

As is known, Indonesia is one of the destination countries for refugees in the Asian region. In 2020, 14,000 refugees sought asylum in Indonesia, spreading across several areas such as Medan, Makassar and Jakarta (Hanif, 2023; Tanu and Missbach, 2023). Amidst the limited role of the government in refugee protection efforts, the role of the UNHCR and IOM is crucial in implementing humanitarian programmes for refugees.

Meanwhile, in a humanitarian context, social work is a profession that is relevant and has the potential to be a temporary choice to bridge efforts to handle refugee problems. In addition, the social work framework in the Southeast Asia region has guidelines, such as the Ha Noi Declaration, on strengthening social work, which emphasizes that member countries are responsible for ensuring the availability of social and health services and interventions (ASEAN, 2023). Conceptually, social work protects human rights by respecting the intrinsic worth of all people. It aims to provide a just social work framework that protects and advances society while respecting the dignity of individuals. Social workers fight for the right to health and social services. In the displacement field, social work must support these two areas (Reith-Hall and Montgomery, 2023).

In Indonesia, the biggest challenge of social work rests on the lack of human resources involved in addressing psychosocial problems faced by refugees. In this endeavour, social workers focus on the social and environmental factors underlying mental health and provide referrals to professionals, while psychiatrists diagnose and provide medical treatment for refugees. Currently, both the UNHCR and IOM are implementing community-based refugee empowerment programmes. Refugees are seen as possessing the resources and personal strengths to take responsibility for the survival of their communities in shelters. The UNHCR and IOM have established gatekeeper groups for refugee communities and provided them with training in preventing and responding to various psychological symptoms within their communities (IOM Indonesia, 2021). Between 2019 and 2021, IOM (2021) supported access to psychiatric care for 1572 refugees, with 29 of them requiring professional help following a suicide attempt or self-harm. Tragically, in the same period, six refugees committed suicide.

Based on these data, in addition to requiring multi-stakeholder involvement, a long-term therapeutic approach is necessary. Social workers can implement a stepped-care model that integrates three levels of intervention: (1) Therapy Support as a foundation for building rapport and emotional stabilization, (2) Life Review Therapy (LRT) as an in-depth intervention for reconstructing trauma narratives and (3) Therapeutic Groups as a platform for consolidating recovery through peer support and reducing collective stigma. Each level of intervention is designed to complement the others and can be adjusted based on the severity of the psychosocial condition, the stage of migration and the individual needs of the refugees. These three models were adopted from Erik Erikson’s concept of psychosocial development that aims to enhance emotional and psychological well-being through the process of recalling and narrating life experiences. This concept is rooted in the theory of integrity versus despair, which draws on one of the eight stages of psychosocial development.

Building on the legal, institutional and psychosocial contexts outlined above, this article proposes a set of practice-informed psychosocial interventions that social workers may employ when working with refugees in transit settings. These interventions are not intended as a prescriptive or linear model, but rather as complementary options that can be adapted to specific needs, contexts and resource constraints. This effort may open up opportunities to improve holistic mental well-being for refugee individuals in Indonesia.

Take part in providing therapy support

As the first level in the continuum of psychosocial care, therapy support serves as a foundation for building the trust and emotional stabilization necessary before refugees can engage in more in-depth interventions. In their professional practice, social workers must provide therapeutic support. This support needs to be followed by an understanding of the trauma and psychological stress experienced by post-migration refugees (Chang-Muy and Congress, 2023; George, 2012). It aims to provide support to refugees experiencing psychosocial problems, for example, feelings of sadness due to the loss of family members in their home country. This situation is exacerbated by discrimination and prejudice against refugees that are widespread in Indonesia. Society’s stigma against them reflects refugees’ challenges in accessing adequate mental health services (Haider et al., 2023). Recent reports show that community rejection has worsened the psychosocial problems of refugees due to arrogance from the surrounding community and overcapacity in shelters (Pohan, 2024; Utami and Ngo, 2024).

Nevertheless, long-term therapy support has a positive impact on refugees’ quality of life during exile. A 10-year longitudinal study by Opaas et al. (2020) showed that therapy support had a positive effect on quality of life and functioning in exile. Therefore, social workers need to consider the connection between therapy support and stigma against refugees in their professional practice, including coordinating with the government to find joint solutions for refugees.

Intensification of LRT

After achieving emotional stabilization through therapy support, refugees experiencing complex trauma related to loss of identity, traumatic memories or difficulties in integrating the past with the present may benefit from a more structured approach through LRT. This second-level intervention allows for the reconstruction of a coherent life narrative. LRT is a memory-based psychotherapy intervention developed from the fields of gerontology and psychotraumatology, which encourages individuals to recall, reflect on and reconstruct their life experiences into a coherent and meaningful narrative. First introduced by Robert Butler in 1963 as a natural developmental process for older adults reviewing their lives, it has since been adapted into a systematic therapeutic technique for various traumatized populations, including Holocaust survivors, war veterans and refugees. Maercker and Bachem (2013) explain that LRT employs a memory-based approach to reconstruct memories of traumatic events, transforming them into a coherent narrative through exposure techniques. This process helps individuals find meaning in challenging experiences and integrate their identities. It allows clients to review potentially ambiguous and contradictory stages of their lives – such as their financial well-being before a conflict, or an emergency that forced them to leave their place of origin – as important pre-migration considerations to understand and integrate.

In the context of global social work practice, LRT has been recognized as an effective intervention to reduce the impact of severe trauma, enhance self-esteem and support resilience in vulnerable populations. A 10-year longitudinal study by Opaas et al. (2020) demonstrated that long-term therapy, including LRT, had a positive impact on the quality of life of traumatized refugees, with more significant improvements in quality of life and functioning in exile compared with PTSD symptom reduction alone. Forstmeier et al. (2023) in their study of Holocaust survivors demonstrated that LRT was effective in reconstructing traumatic memories and integrating them into a coherent narrative, which reduced anxiety and increased self-acceptance. In Indonesia, LRT has been applied primarily in a gerontological context to improve the self-esteem of older adults, prevent loneliness and alleviate depression. A study by Banon et al. (2022) demonstrated that LRT group therapy was effective in improving the self-esteem of older adults in Bekasi with a p-value of 0.00, indicating strong statistical significance. Although LRT has not been widely adopted in the refugee context in Indonesia, its basic principles are highly relevant to the needs of refugees experiencing the trauma of migration, loss of family members and longing for their homeland.

Interventions through LRT allow refugees to reflect on their past, resolve internal conflicts, organize their experiences and integrate them into their present lives. This technique helps them recall past moments, increase self-confidence and mitigate the long-term impact of severe trauma resulting from migration journeys, family loss and homesickness. In social work practice with refugees, LRT not only establishes a framework based on their needs but also paves the way for social workers to engage in interpretive learning within systems of care tailored to the specific needs of refugees. Narrative therapy, including LRT, utilizes methods such as artwork and writing. It has been shown to provide tangible support for refugees of all ages by building a sense of community, strengthening identity within immigrant communities and increasing communal pride. These factors correlated with resilience and positive mental health outcomes.

Capturing these personal perceptions can help refugees overcome the long-term impact of severe trauma. Social workers can strengthen resilience by providing refugees with self-directed writing training, enabling them to develop autobiographical memories without the obligation to share them with others. This approach gives refugees control over their own narratives, which is crucial in the context of the loss of autonomy they often experience. Social workers’ interventions through refugees’ reflections can minimize anxiety about the potential failure of their migration aspirations in their destination country. In assisting with issues related to identity integration, finding meaning in challenging experiences and accepting the journey, social workers can build interpersonal rapport by tentatively reviewing the experiences of refugees. This helps develop assessments and evaluate interventions.

This intervention technique allows refugees to reflect on the past, resolve it, and organize and integrate it into their present life. This technique helps them recall past moments, increasing their self-confidence (Bhui, 2022). These interventions do not simply establish a framework based on refugees’ needs. In contrast, LRT interventions pave the way for social workers to engage in interpretive learning within a care system appropriate to refugees’ needs. Mainstream discourse often ignores that refugees have certain stages in their life journey that are ambivalent and contradictory, such as financial well-being or conflict emergencies that force them to leave their place of origin, as pre-migration considerations.

Efforts to capture this kind of personal perception can help refugees escape the long-term impact of severe trauma resulting from the migration journey, loss of family members and longing for their homeland. According to Pohan et al. (2024), through LRT, social workers can strengthen resilience by providing independent writing training for refugees, allowing them to develop their autobiographical memories without the obligation to share them with others. Maercker and Bachem (2013) explain that LRT applies a memory-based approach developed in psychotraumatology, which helps reduce the effects of severe trauma experiences. Social worker intervention through refugee reflection can minimize anxiety over the potential failure of their migration aspirations in the destination country (Bhui, 2022; Morrice, 2021). In assisting with matters related to identity integration, finding meaning in challenging experiences and accepting life’s journey, social workers can build interpersonal closeness by tentatively reviewing the experiences of refugees to help develop assessments and evaluate interventions.

Designing a therapeutic group

While therapy support and LRT are effective in addressing individual needs, refugees also face challenges of social isolation and collective stigma that require community-based interventions. To address this social dimension of psychosocial recovery, therapeutic groups serve as an essential third level for consolidating individual recovery through peer support and collective learning.

Therapeutic groups are designed to help refugees who have personal and emotional problems. The group aims to facilitate emotional and social adjustments through group dynamics and encourage members to explore issues and develop problem-solving strategies. Therapeutic group therapy is an application that covers the limitations of individual therapies, such as the availability of resources (Hutchinson et al., 2022; Pfeiffer et al., 2018). In addition, therapeutic groups are based on cultural competencies and strengths that allow social workers to provide efficient services, such as involving potential peer supporters or neighbours of fellow refugees. In this effort, social workers engage in psychological interventions simultaneously. The group format allows individuals to learn from other refugees in the same place and share each other’s difficulties. In turn, it helps reduce stigma collectively in a sense of acceptance.

In this intervention, social workers must understand the mechanisms of psychosocial care for refugees through cross-cultural factors and definite treatment expectations. Recent studies show that therapeutic groups are proven to complement individual therapy interventions for refugees with gradual interventions for recovery while avoiding erroneous diagnostics (Due et al., 2024; Verhaak and Ter Heide, 2024). While the gradual implementation of individual therapy can reduce the burden of depression (Böge et al., 2020), a study by Wiechers et al. (2023) showed that therapeutic groups were significantly more effective than self-treatment or expert diagnosis. This indicates that social workers need a thorough understanding of the symptoms and levels of depression found in refugees to ensure the appropriate therapeutic approach. The stepped-care model, which begins with stabilization through therapy support, narrative transformation through LRT and social consolidation through therapeutic groups, reflects the principle that refugee psychosocial recovery is multidimensional and requires complementary interventions. Research shows that a combination of individual and group interventions produces better outcomes than either approach alone, with therapeutic groups proving significantly more effective than self-treatment or a single expert diagnosis (Wiechers et al., 2023).

Policy and legal frameworks

Social workers can act as activists influencing state policy. Beyond direct psychosocial interventions, social workers also play a critical role in policy advocacy and legal reform aimed at strengthening refugee protection frameworks. They are actively involved in social movements that encourage change and collective action, focusing on increasing public awareness of the challenges and injustices experienced by refugees. In this role, social workers utilize various resources to address injustices, conduct lobbying activities and negotiate to encourage changes in laws and regulations. It aligns with the code of ethics of the Indonesian Independent Professional Social Workers Association (IPSPI) and the Indonesian Medical Social Workers Association (APSMI), which emphasizes social and cultural sensitivity that recognizes the rights of marginalized groups (IPSPI, 2025; Sukmana, 2022). Social work agencies can also file class action lawsuits to protect refugees’ rights. As advocates, social workers provide support and advice, even representing the interests and rights of clients in justice institutions, social institutions or in dealing with the authorities.

However, research on social work in supporting the psychological recovery of refugees in Indonesia is still limited. Wardeh and Marques’s (2021) study shows that most research on refugee health support does not have a long-term orientation. Other recent studies confirm that policy corridors are minimal at the implementation stage, even though the Indonesian government has legal instruments for refugee protection through Presidential Regulation Number 125 of 2016 on Handling Overseas Refugees (Royyan et al., 2018; Syahrin et al., 2024). This regulation cannot be implemented optimally due to limited coordination between the central and regional governments. Apart from that, Syahrin et al.’s research shows that some local governments reject the presence of refugees due to factors such as shelter camps and budget constraints. So, the remaining intervention is to design regulations based on human rights. What is interesting about these two studies is that they offer long-term solutions for handling refugees’ psychosocial problems at a normative level. Research support must be directed at advocacy that urges decision-makers to adopt human rights instruments and policy formulation that gives international institutions such as the UNHCR and IOM flexibility in providing recovery support. However, refugee protection regulations are the main basis that provides space for social work in refugee recovery efforts in destination countries. It aligns with social work principles, which place human rights, including the human right to health, as the intervention substance. Therefore, research-based advocacy paves the way to bridge the pressure for ratification of refugee protection while still implementing the recovery of psychosocial impacts at the technical level.

Conclusion

Overall, this article has examined the role of social workers in addressing psychosocial challenges faced by refugees in transit contexts, particularly in settings where formal refugee protection frameworks remain limited. This role is consistent with the essence of the social work profession, which prioritizes human rights and values. This role is also aligned with various regional and national ethical frameworks and principles for social work practitioners in the Southeast Asia region. By implementing approaches that include therapeutic support, LRT and therapeutic groups, social workers can effectively support mental health services for refugees. Their contribution could improve the mental well-being of refugees in countries that have not yet adopted the International Convention and Protocol on Refugees.

This article demonstrates the need to develop specific competencies for social workers in working with this population. This includes an understanding of complex trauma and crisis intervention techniques. Social work institutions can integrate specific modules on refugee mental health into their materials. Furthermore, a structured collaboration system between social workers and other mental health professionals is crucial in the absence of legal procedures for refugee protection at the domestic level. This collaboration between practitioners allows for comprehensive services. Furthermore, governments and international organizations need to develop specific standards for mental health services for refugees. This includes assessment and intervention protocols that can be adapted to various contexts in Southeast Asian countries. Furthermore, as with the UNHCR in Indonesia, budgetary factors are crucial for the sustainability of intervention programmes. Without adequate budget allocation, implementing social worker training programmes and long-term psychosocial therapy can be challenging. Future research could focus on longitudinal studies to highlight the long-term effectiveness of social work interventions, including the testing of various intervention models for feasibility and cost-effectiveness in resource-limited settings.