When Sami Asaka, his wife Gergette Shiba and their three children fled their home in Syria almost two years ago, they left with nothing but a few possessions and huge hopes for the future.
After spending almost 18 months in Lebanon, the family arrived in Australia in August, settling in Sydney's south-west, which is expected to welcome thousands of humanitarian arrivals over the next few years.
The 53-year-old Assyrian mechanic said leaving his home country was one of the hardest decisions he'd ever made.
"We had a life, we were doing well, we were very successful, very happy," he said. "Then all of a sudden we had to leave everything behind and go. It wasn't easy. I thought about it 100 times before I did it. But our home is ruined, we had to go."
The couple has been supported by the NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors (STARTTS), which offers specialist counselling for refugees.
The service has been operating in Carramar in Sydney's south-west for 25 years but the number of people receiving assistance has almost doubled in the past five years, from 1833 in 2011 to 3500 last year.
Chief executive officer Jorge Aroche expects that figure to increase by 20 per cent this year as more refugees arrive from conflict zones.
"The majority have experienced some sort of trauma," he said.
Psychological support is an important component of successfully adapting to a new country, Mr Aroche said.
"To leave a country like Syria or Sudan takes a lot of ingenuity, a lot of resourcefulness," he said. "These are people with a thirst to learn and a thirst to contribute to society but that can only be exercised if we help them address what they have been through.
"Trauma can interfere with them learning English, it will interfere with their capacity to provide for their family and their ability to form healthy relationships," Mr Aroche said. "Their lives can disintegrate."
The service has been given increased funding of $2.7 million this year to accommodate the extra demand for services, on top of base annual funding of $4.75 million.
Under the funding boost, the service has employed an extra 17 staff, including two dedicated child counsellors.
NSW Minister for Mental Health Pru Goward said the state had an obligation to support new refugees in their resettlement.
"We are supporting a service that enables people to settle happily here," she said. "This is a great country and we want people to be able to take advantage of all the opportunities on offer. If you don't address trauma, it gets built into somebody's life and function."
Mr Asaka said his wife and children, aged 15, 19 and 21, were gradually adjusting to life in their "beautiful" adopted country.
"The most important thing is the education of my children," he said. "I want my children to get a good education and for me to have a home and a car and a job. I don't want much else."
