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Dr. Carolina Jimenez, Licensed Psychologist Immigration Evaluations Specialist Jimenez Counseling

Beyond the Border: impact of current immigration climate on immigrant families ’ mental health and well-being. Dr. Carolina Jimenez, Licensed Psychologist Immigration Evaluations Specialist Jimenez Counseling Jimenezcounseling.com Encourage, Empower, Educate. Objectives.

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Dr. Carolina Jimenez, Licensed Psychologist Immigration Evaluations Specialist Jimenez Counseling

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  1. Beyond the Border:impact of current immigration climate on immigrant families’ mental health and well-being. Dr. Carolina Jimenez, Licensed Psychologist Immigration Evaluations Specialist Jimenez Counseling Jimenezcounseling.com Encourage, Empower, Educate

  2. Objectives • Discuss impact of family separation among immigrant families. • Discuss factors contributing to hardship among immigrant families. • Discuss how to support immigrants to promote their well-being. • Provide resources to support immigrants.

  3. Beyond the Border: Family separation • Fear of family separation can have negative consequences on health and well-being. • Increase in number of families applying for “extreme hardship waivers.” • Increase in number of people applying for asylum. • Increase in incidence of symptoms of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health concerns. • Impacting other areas of functioning in addition to family life.

  4. Beyond the Border: Impact on adults • Guilt, regret, shame, fear, isolation, distrust frustration, uncertainty, confusion, impotence. • Depression, anxiety, PTSD. • Suicide. • Decrease in quality of life and well-being. • Loss of protective factors.

  5. Beyond the Border: Impact on children • The healthy development of children depends on the stability and consistency of their environment. • Even brief forced separation from caregivers frequently causes “long-term disturbance among children.” A. Kapoor • Risk for developing anxiety, depression, PTSD, damaged self-esteem, poor academic achievement, behavior difficulties, impaired ability to form healthy relationships, etc. • The sudden disappearance of care takers can cause serious psychological damageand have disastrous consequences for children’s well-being and emotional development.

  6. Beyond the Border: Impact on community • Increase in incidence of racism. • Increase in incidence of vicarious trauma. • Increase in number of people misrepresenting themselves as specialized professionals. • Immigrants being taken advantage of by unscrupulous people.

  7. Hardship Factors • Psychological and emotional. • Physical and medical. • Financial. • Family suffering. • Inability to relocate.

  8. Ways to help and support • Contact your local government representatives. • Donate to an immigrant assistance fund. • Volunteer your time. • Familiarize yourself with local and national resources for immigrants. • Share information. • Obtain specialized training to serve immigrants. • File a formal complaint against professionals misrepresenting themselves.

  9. Resources • Immigration evaluations (U visa, 601 waivers, VAWA, asylum) jimenezcounseling.com/immigration-evaluation • Online detainee locator system locator.ice.gov/odls/ • Houston immigration legal services collaborative houstonimmigration.org/ • Houston consulates and embassies embassypages.com/city/houston • F.I.E.L. Familias Inmigrantes y Estudiantes en la Luchafielhouston.org/ • Women’s law (support ALL genders) regarding visas womenslaw.org/laws/federal/immigration/all

  10. More Resources • Refugee mental health resource network refugeementalhealthnet.org/ • Physicians for human rights phr.org/get-involved/participate/request-a-forensic-evaluation/ • University of Houston: Law center, Immigration clinic www.law.uh.edu/clinic/immi.asp • American immigration council americanimmigrationcouncil.org/ • National immigration legal services directory immigrationadvocates.org/nonprofit/legaldirectory/

  11. References • Giano, Z. Immigration related stress, parental documentation status, and depressive symptoms among early adolescent Latinos. https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2019/08/latino-children-depressive-symptoms • Kapoor, A. The traumatic effects of forced deportation on families. http://trauma.blog.yorku.ca/2012/08/the-traumatic-effects-of-forced-deportation-on-families/ • Long, C. “I can’t feel my heart:” Children separated from their parents at US-Mexico Border showed increased signs of post-traumatic stress .ttps://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/children-separated-from-their-parents-at-us-mexico-border-showed-increased-signs-of-post-traumatic-stress-us-report-says/ • Stringer, H. Psychologists respond to a mental crisis at the border. https://www.apa.org/monitor/2018/09/crisis-border

  12. THANK YOU!!! Dr. Carolina Jimenez Licensed Psychologist Immigration Evaluations Specialist Jimenez Counseling 3400 Bissonnet #270 Houston, Texas 77005 Jimenezcounseling.com 281-709-2933

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