This 19th webinar of the Refugee Mental Health Resource Network (RMHRN) will address the intersecting risks and challenges that immigrant children have faced in the past four years of discriminatory and detrimental governmental policies, the planned changes that the new administration is undertaking, and its impact on the immigrant’s children situation. Additionally, the Covid-19 pandemic differentially impacted ethnic minority and immigrant families and children. The discussion will be framed within a working model that takes into consideration how the cultural, individual, familial, community and societal factors interact in a reciprocal manner to shape the risks and protective factors that affect immigrant children. Dr. Hass has conducted two RMHRN webinars in previous years on asylum evaluations and will also discuss how current changes may impact the process.

Dr. Carll will moderate and provide background for this thought provoking webinar. Q and A will follow the presentations.

Presented by:
Elizabeth Carll, PhD
Giselle Hass, PsyD, ABAP

Learning Objectives:
1. Participants will be able to describe immigrant children’s current challenges and prospects.
2. Participants will be able to describe the moral imperative to reverse destructive policies and develop a humanitarian perspective to protect immigrant children.
3. Participants will learn to describe risks and resilience issues within a model of integrative mental health.

Bios:
Elizabeth Carll, PhD is a licensed psychologist in New York, founder and chair of the Refugee Mental Health Resource Network (RMHRN), an APA Interdivisional Project. She is a founding member and a former president of the APA Trauma Psychology Division and chairs the International Committee. A former chair of the United Nations NGO Committee on Mental Health, she is the founder and chair of its Global Mental Health and NCDs Working Group and serves on boards of non-profit organizations. Webinar Moderator.

Giselle Hass, PsyD, ABAP is an immigrant from Costa Rica. She earned a PsyD from Nova Southeastern University. After working in Florida, Virginia, and Washington D.C. for 30 years, she now splits her time between Nicaragua and Florida. She specializes in assessment of traumatic experiences on immigrants and refugees as forensic expert in immigration proceedings, family and criminal courts. Her latest book is: Evans, B. & Hass, G. (2018). Forensic Psychological Assessment in Immigration Court: A Guidebook for Evidence-Based and Ethical Practice.

References:
Hass, G. (2021). Considerations when working with Central American immigrant children in the legal system. In: G. Calloway & M. Lee. Handbook of Children in the Legal System: A Guide for Forensic and Mental Health Practitioners.

Evans, B. & Hass, G. (2018). Forensic Psychological Assessment in Immigration Court: A Guidebook for Evidence-Based and Ethical Practice. Philadelphia: Taylor & Francis.

Kennedy, E. (2014). No childhood here: Why Central American children are fleeing their homes. Retrieved from American Immigration Council website: https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/no-childhood-here-why-central-american-children-are-fleeing-their-homes

Lupien, S.J., McEwen, B. S., Gunnar, M.R. & Helm, M. (2009). Effects of Stress Throughout the Lifespan on the brain, behavior, and cognition. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 10 (6), 434-445.

Paris, M.; Antuna, C.; Baily, C.; Hass, G. A.; Muniz de la Pena, C.; Silva, M.A.; Srinivas, T. (2018). Vulnerable but not Broken: Psychosocial challenges and resilience pathways among unaccompanied children from Central America. Washington, DC: Immigration Working Group. Retrieved from:
https://cllas.uoregon.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Vulnerable-But-Not-Broken-Final-Report-Aug-2018.pdf

Perreira, K. M. & Ornelas, I. (2013). Painful Passage: Traumatic Experiences and Post- Traumatic Stress among Immigrant Latino Adolescents and their Primary Caregivers, International Migration Review, 47 (4), 976. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3875301/pdf/nihms529682.pdf