Foundation House - Skills for Trauma-Informed Information Gathering

Learn how to gather information through interviews and assessment, with people from refugee and asylum seeking backgrounds with skill and sensitivity.

This practical half-day online workshop equips professionals to conduct effective, trauma-informed interviews and information gathering with people from refugee and asylum seeking backgrounds with skill and sensitivity. Participants will develop an understanding of how exposure to trauma, persecution, forced displacement, and ongoing stressors can affect memory, concentration, emotional regulation, and an individual's ability to provide a clear and consistent account of their experiences.

The workshop explores how trauma, loss, fear, mistrust, shame, and ongoing uncertainty can influence engagement in interviews and assessment processes. Participants will learn practical strategies for building safety and rapport, supporting disclosure, managing distress, and navigating common challenges such as fragmented narratives, memory difficulties, and non-linear recall.

Drawing on trauma-informed and culturally responsive principles, the workshop focuses on creating the conditions for effective information gathering while reducing the risk of re-traumatisation and maintaining the integrity of the interview or assessment process.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

• Understand how refugee experiences and trauma can influence memory, recall, and communication.
• Recognise trauma-related factors that may affect information gathering.
• Apply sensitive, appropriate, and trauma-informed approaches to interviewing and information gathering.
• Adapt your practice to support effective information gathering, while reducing the risk of re-traumatisation.
• Develop a more attuned understanding of the needs and experiences of people with complex trauma histories.
   
   

Workshop Style - Learn through presentations, exercises that bring theory into practical application, and discussions in large and small groups.

Certificates and handouts - A PDF of the slides and a certificate of completion will be emailed to you after the event.

CPD points -This workshop adheres to the continuing professional development standards of most professional bodies. Please check the CPD policy of your professional body.

Who should attend?

• Legal, advocacy, and migration professionals  
• Case managers  
• Health and mental health professionals  
• Intake and Assessment workers in community and social services sectors  
• Researchers, evaluators and ethics board members 
• Anyone conducting interviews with people who may have experienced trauma 

Facilitators

Aryana Vale, Foundation House Practice Leader

Aryana Vala is a clinical social worker with a background in psychology and community development, with extensive experience leading tertiary and community mental health, psychosocial, and protection programs across Australia, the South Pacific region, South Asia, and the Middle East. She has worked with refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced populations affected by conflict and complex emergencies.

Her work spans clinical practice, supervision, policy and systems reform across humanitarian, development, and statutory contexts. Aryana has led large-scale initiatives on social service workforce strengthening, child protection and youth justice reform, and has partnered with international academic institutions to develop and deliver social work curricula and supervision frameworks. She has also contributed to the adaptation of global psychological interventions across different country contexts, advancing community-based models of recovery and wellbeing that promote safety, dignity, equity, and resilience.

Aryana specialises in trauma-focused and intersectional approaches to therapeutic care and supervision. Her practice integrates evidence-based modalities with culturally responsive and rights-based principles that recognise the impact of systemic inequality and collective adversity.