This is the first part of a Measured Impact Webinar; it is part of the National Capacity Building project series of webinars. It was presented on January 18, 2017 and features Nancy Murakami and John Wilkinson of the Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture.
Description:
Service providers who work with survivors of torture and forced migration know that their clients face many challenges in navigating environments that feel unsafe and out of their control. Concerns about their safety and their family’s safety may be associated with living in a high-crime neighborhood, where “there is nothing ‘post’ about PTSD”; with fearing the police or other people in uniforms due to their trauma triggers; or with concerns about what seems to be an increase in anti-immigration rhetoric and the larger and, for now unanswerable, concerns around immigration and deportation. At our torture treatment programs, clients have wondered: As a non-citizen might I be deported? Will my Muslim family members be able to enter the United States? Safety concerns manifest in a wide range of ways and can be addressed in a variety of supportive, collaborative, creative ways. This webinar focuses on psychosocial and immigration-related strategies for identifying and addressing safety-related stressors of our clients.
Staff of all disciplines are encouraged to attend.
This webinar is followed by the e-consultation that goes into more depth with case examples.
Session 1: In this first session of the two-part training, we focus on articulating ways in which our clients may feel unsafe and how that distress may manifest, and share psychosocial and immigration-related strategies for identifying and addressing safety-related stressors of our clients.
Session 2: In this second session of this two-part training, we will share case examples for interactive discussion.
Objectives:
- Increase understanding of torture survivors’ actual and perceived threats to safety and the strengths and challenges that torture survivors have in analyzing and understanding risks for them and their families
- Gain new psychosocial and immigration-related strategies for working with clients who have concerns about safety
- Learn about supportive resources and ways to locate and develop community resources
- Right from the beginning… a sample board orientation agenda
Resources:
Know Your Rights
Note that some rights and advice may vary state to state; consult your local ACLU if you have questions.
- The Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) “Know Your Rights” Red Card that was shown in the webinar may be ordered from the ILRC here. There is no charge for these cards.
- The ACLU has similar cards, as well as a web page about knowing your rights. Note that the information is available in English and 14 other languages. Video is available in English and 4 other languages.
- National Immigration Law Center “Know Your Rights Card”
- Advancing the Rights of Immigrants, from the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, has clear posters explaining rights, including “You Have Rights” and “Know Your Rights.”
- Know Your Rights. New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU). An extensive library of palm cards and frequently asked questions resources.
- Know your Rights. American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey. Includes “What to do if you’re stopped by the police” and other resources.
- NW Refugee and Immigrant Health Coalition. (November 27 2016). Healthcare provider resources for refugees, immigrants, and asylum seekers.
Tools and Information
From Welcoming America, an ORR TA provider that “looks to provide refugee resettlement organizations with the tools and support needed to enhance and sustain their community engagement and public awareness work in local communities, deepen their practices and local collaborations, and develop broader support for refugees, which is essential to refugees’ longer-term civic, linguistic, and economic integration.”
- Stand Together Toolkit: Messaging about Muslims and Refugees in a Challenging Time
- Reframing Refugees: A toolkit is designed to help people working with and on behalf of recent refugees to deliver strong messages that will encourage community leaders and policy-makers to take action to support refugees in their area
The Spring Institute for intercultural learning and welcoming America. Downs-Karkos, S. (2011). The receiving communities toolkit: A guide for engaging mainstream America in immigrant integration.
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. https://www.uscis.gov
Publications
- Clay, R, (2017) In search of hope and home.
- Fondacaro, K. M. & Harder, V.S. (2014).Connecting cultures: A training model promoting evidence-based psychological services for refugees. Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 8(4), 320–327.
- Maurice P., Lavoie M., Charron R.L., Chapdelaine A., Bonneau H.B., Svanstrom L., Laflamme L., Andersson R., Romer C., Svanstrom, L., Laflamme, L, Andersson, R., & Romer, C. (1998). Safety and Safety Promotion: Conceptual and Operational Aspects.
- Subedi, P., Li, C., Gurung, A., Bizune, D., Dogbey, M.C., Johnson, C.C., Yun, K. (2015). Mental health first aid training for the Bhutanese refugee community in the United States.International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 9:20. DOI 10.1186/s13033-015-0012-z.
- Vitelli, R. (2013) When the Trauma Doesn’t End.
Other Resources
- Continuous Traumatic Stress a Special Issue from Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology
- Briere, J. & Scott, C. (2006). Principles of Trauma Therapy: A guide to symptoms, evaluation, and treatment. New York: Sage.
- Cohen, J.A., Mannarino, A.P., & Deblinger, E. (2017) Treating trauma and traumatic grief in children and adolescents. New York, NY: The Guildford Press.
- Hanson, D., Vardon, P., & Lloyd, J. (2002). Safe communities: an ecological approach to safety promotion. In R. Muller (Ed). Reducing injuries in Mackay, North Queensland (17-34). Warwick, Qld: Warwick Educational Publishing.
- Herman, J. (2015). Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence – From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror. New York: Basic Books.
- Miller, K. E., & Rasco, L. M. (2004). An ecological framework for addressing the mental health needs of refugee communities. In K.E. Miller & L.M. Rasco (Eds.), The mental health of refugees: Ecological approaches to healing and adaptation, (1-64). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Chapter one available free from the author’s website.
- Najavits, L.M. (2002) Seeking Safety: A treatment manual for PTSD and substance abuse. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.
- Schauer, M., Neuner, F.,& Elbert, T. (2011). Narrative exposure therapy: a short-term treatment for traumatic stress disorders, 2nd revised and expanded edition. Cambridge, MA: Hogrefe Publishing.
Attachments: