Inside torture and trauma counselling sessions on Christmas Island

For three years from 2011, social worker Poh Lin Lee worked as a trauma counsellor for the Christmas Island Torture and Trauma Service.

She offered therapy and support to detained asylum seekers referred from the nearby detention centre, which closed this month.

At her lowest, most conflicted moments she wondered who she was providing the care for.

“It might be enough for someone to get through the next week or the next day, but for whose benefit is that?” she says.

“Altruistically I like to think it’s for the person, but very often it felt very much like it was just for the system, just to tick a…