Supporting Clients Through Immigration Experiences 

Over the past few years, we've noticed an influx of people coming for therapy or evaluations that have undergone recent immigration experiences. Most are recent refugees forced to flee their homes, lives and loved ones due to overt persecution. Some have chosen to come to the States in order to work towards an improvement in life quality. There are significant challenges that many of these people face, and our being sensitive to these challenges can help foster a more supportive, transformational relationship during such a critical time in their lives. These sensitivities can be shared by therapists, evaluators, attorneys, medical professionals, and others looking to assist recent immigrants. What follows are ways in which I prepare for meeting with immigrant clients in order to best serve them. We generally see a lot of clients looking for an evaluation that supports their asylum or residence status, the most common example being someone who has come to the states seeking asylum due to persecution in their home country. An evaluation of their trauma symptoms and diagnosis, and resultantly the anticipated effects should they be denied asylum, can be of great benefit to the court in understanding the complexities of the case.