anchorage of css photo/courtesy brycspublic health (mdph), refugee and immigrant health program...

Lyn Morland, MSW, MA, Director Bridging Refugee Youth & Children’s Services (BRYCS)

Heidi Ellis, PhD Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School Refugee Health Technical Assistance Center (RHTAC)

Dina Birman, PhD University of Illinois, Chicago, BRYCS TA Consultant

This Webinar is made possible by funding from the Office of Refugee Resettlement (DHHS/ACF/ORR)

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BRYCS and RHTAC are National Technical Assistance Centers for the Federal Office of Refugee Resettlement (DHHS/ACF/ORR), serving refugee and mainstream providers.

BRYCS, a project of Migration and Refugee Services, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, provides TA and support on refugee children, youth, and families.

RHTAC, a project of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH), Refugee and Immigrant Health Program (RIHP), provides TA and support on refugee health and mental health.

BRYCS & RHTAC, Strong Roots & Bright Futures, February 8, 2012

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Presentation Overview 1. Introductions 2. Risk and Protective Factors for Refugee Youth Adjustment 3. Promising Practices:

• Family Strengthening • Youth Mentoring

4. Question & Answer


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Heidi Ellis, PhD Heidi Ellis is the Director of the Children’s Hospital Center for Refugee Trauma, Harvard Medical School, where she teaches and conducts research, and is a key member of the Refugee Health Technical Assistance Center (RHTAC) team. Heidi’s primary focus is on the development and dissemination of interventions for refugee children and their families. Her recent work includes research on the role of stigma and discrimination in the mental health of resettled Somali adolescents, and a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant adapting and implementing Trauma Systems Therapy for Somali refugees in a school setting. She will frame our approach today by speaking on risk and protective processes for refugee youth from an ecological perspective.

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Social-Ecological Model

School Peer Group

Neighborhood

Culture

Family

Individual

BRYCS & RHTAC, Strong Roots & Bright Futures, February 8, 2012 5

Pre-migration / migration

Disruption of basic scaffolding of childhood

Identity and beliefs targeted

Separation from family, loss

Trauma


Resettlement

Discrimination

Peer acceptance, acculturative stress, school readiness

Intergenerational trauma, loss, acculturation

Trauma


Somali Youth Experience Project

N = 144 Ages 11-19,

living in U.S. at least 1 year

Community sample

Boston

Portland Lewiston


Trauma exposure

Trauma exposedNot exposed94%

•Average 7 traumatic events (range 0-22)


Consequences of traumatic stress

Social Drug abuse Anti-social behavior Isolation/withdrawal

Psychological Posttraumatic Stress

Disorder ○ Reexperiencing,

Avoidance, Hyperarousal Depression Conduct disorder Emotion Regulation

Academic


Trauma and adjustment

Trauma Adjustment

Proximal aftermath: Ongoing war stress

Distal aftermath: Ongoing resettlement stress


Trauma and adjustment

Trauma Adjustment




Trauma, social connection, and adjustment

Trauma

Discrimination

Social Support at

home

PTSD



Family Acculturative

stress



Trauma

Discrimination

Social Support at

home

Depression



School Belonging



Trauma Adjustment



Social connection:

Family

School

Community


Lyn Morland, MSW, MA Lyn Morland, Director of Bridging Refugee Youth & Children’s Services (BRYCS), has 30 years experience serving refugees and immigrants as a social worker and anthropologist, including developing and evaluating mental health programs for refugee youth here in the U.S. and in Asia and Latin America. She currently provides national consultation on refugee and immigrant children, youth, and families. In today’s presentation, she will speak about programs that strengthen families and promote positive youth development.

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https://staff.usccb.org/dept/mrs/spo/brycs/Photos/Lyn Morland.jpg

Resilience research suggests that protective factors – supports and opportunities that promote healthy behaviors – are more predictive of adjustment than are risk factors

The Power of Protective

Factors


A hopeful message!

risk factors predict negative outcomes in about 20 to 49 percent of a high risk population

protective factors predict positive outcomes in 50 to 80 percent of a high-risk population (Rutter, 1987, 2000; Werner, 2001)

BRYCS Photo / Courtesy of CSS Anchorage

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Family Attachment and Stability

Social Skills, especially “Bicultural”

Pro-social Relationships (adults, peers)

The Role of Religion

Academic Engagement/Achievement

Community Resources - ECBOs

Protective Factors for Refugee Youth*

* From BRYCS Strengths-Based Programming: The Example of Somali Refugee Youth


BRYCS Photo/Youth Arts & Voices

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http://www.brycs.org/documents/upload/brycs_spotsummer2009.pdf






Social Connections & “Strong Roots”: Programs that Strengthen Families and Build Bridges to the Mainstream

Family Strengthening Programs

Mentoring Programs

BRYCS Photo, Claudia Gilmore

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Family Strengthening Programs BRYCS: Supporting Refugee Families

highlights the Strengthening Families Program and the adaptation of EBPs for refugee families

BRYCS: Helping Refugee Families Stay Together Strengthening Refugee Families and Marriages Programs

Bicultural Skills Training - Entre Dos Mundos/Between Two Worlds, directly addresses the acculturation gap for immigrant families and discrimination, CDC-funded, needs more testing

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http://www.brycs.org/documents/upload/brycs_spotfall2010.pdf


http://web.me.com/erinrbowman/Latino_Acculturation_and_Health_Project/Project_Specifics:_Entre_Dos_Mundos.html

http://web.me.com/erinrbowman/Latino_Acculturation_and_Health_Project/Project_Specifics:_Entre_Dos_Mundos.html


EDM Curriculum

The following themes are posed as questions for families to grapple with during sessions and between sessions as homework.

1) How is our family changing, how do we balance cultures?

2) What worries do youth have for parents, parents for youth?

3) When cultural conflict arises, how do we stay united?

4) How do we handle discrimination & support one another?

5) How do youth and parents participate in school?

6) How do we strengthen connections to US-born adults/peers?

7) Where will we be in ten years?

8) Review, integrate, evaluate, graduate, and celebrate! Smokowski & Bacallao 2006

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At post-test: 84% completion rate Youth experienced sig. lower levels of aggression,

oppositional defiant behavior, and attention problems Youth and families improved on adaptability, bicultural

support, and bicultural identity integration

One year later: In addition to above improvements, levels of

anxiety/depression, parent-youth conflict, and overall problems were significantly lower

Long-term results were strongest for the group using psychodrama techniques

Results (RCT)


Smokowski & Bacallao 2006


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Dina Birman, PhD Dina Birman, Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Illinois, Chicago, and BRYCS TA Consultant, has conducted research and written extensively on the acculturation and adjustment of refugees and immigrants across generations. She has particularly focused on the differences in acculturation between adolescents and their parents, and the implications of these differences for youth and family adaptation. Among her many roles, she has provided TA on refugee mental health for the Office of Refugee Resettlement, and has consulted on program development for those serving refugee youth and families for over 20 years. Dina will speak today on mentoring programs for refugee youth.

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https://staff.usccb.org/dept/mrs/spo/brycs/Photos/Dina Birman, BRYCS Consultant.jpg

Mentoring

Mentoring Goals: Instrumental Mentoring:

tangible assistance Developmental Mentoring: psychological

Mentoring Context: School based Field based

Mentoring Structures: Adult mentors Cross age (older peer, like a sibling) Family mentoring

* Birman, D. & Morland, L. (in press). Immigrant and refugee youth. In D.L. DuBois & M.J. Karcher (Eds.), Handbook of Youth Mentoring, 2nd Edition, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.


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Consider Acculturation when designing a mentoring program

Behavioral and language acculturation happen first; identification occurs later

Kids adopt the new culture faster than parents (particularly language and behavior)

Identity issues for children and young adults are very complex American identity? Ethnic identity? If their ethnic

group is devalued by the larger society, important but difficult to have a positive ethnic identity

Acculturation Gaps develop between children and parents.


What does the current research tell us about mentoring as a strategy for refugee youth adjustment? *

Informal mentoring (family, friends, teachers, etc) Most programs are school based, focused on academics Advantages to engaging entire family in field-based

programs; empowering for parents Empower mentees by nurturing them to become mentors

and program leaders Acculturation level should be taken into consideration Programs should address issues unique to refugee youth,

such as family acculturation gaps

* Birman, D. & Morland, L. (in press). Immigrant and refugee youth. In D.L. DuBois & M.J. Karcher (Eds.), Handbook of Youth Mentoring, 2nd Edition, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.


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Checklist for Practitioners

Consider family strengthening mentoring strategies such as assigning an individual mentor to an entire family or pairing with a mentor-family

Focus initially on instrumental mentoring to facilitate trust and communicate support to parents of their own parenting practices

Explore ways to support native language learning/ maintenance for the youth

Explore ways to assist parents in understanding U.S. schools and peer norms to support their parenting practices.

1. How do you address the acculturation gap between parents and youth?


Consider prioritizing an instrumental mentoring approach

Consider pairing with U.S. born mentors to provide “institutional agents” to help with orientation to new settings such as school

Consider cross-age paring with mentors who are immigrants but have lived in U.S. longer, and provide opportunities for mentees to later become mentors for newer arrivals

2. What are you doing to serve the unique needs of newly arrived immigrants and refugees?


Consider prioritizing a developmental mentoring approach, particularly in dealing with issues of cultural/ethnic identity

Adult mentors from the same ethnic/immigrant group, or from a similar immigration background may be particularly useful in serving as role models for how to integrate cultures and identities

Structure mentoring so that it helps support the family to alleviate the negative impact of acculturation gaps that develop over time

3. What are you doing to serve the unique needs of immigrant and refugee youth who have lived in the country longer?


Promote a school-based instrumental mentoring approach that emphasizes academic support and tutoring

Couple mentoring with academic support for extended periods of time (several years after arrival), particularly for those with backgrounds of no prior literacy or schooling

Utilize a field-based family-focused mentoring approach if literacy is an issue for the entire family.

4. How are you addressing the problem of interrupted schooling?


Consider developmental mentoring from adults with good training in trauma-informed services to help youth develop a trusting relationship

5. How are you addressing the problem of traumatic experiences?

Utilize cross-ethnic mentoring to provide additional sources of instrumental, emotional, and social support

Require cultural competency training for staff and mentors

6. How can you compensate for the lack of local ethnic community?


The Go-Betweener Mentoring Program (Culture Connect, Atlanta, GA)

Pairs refugee and immigrant youth ages 7–17 with ethnically and linguistically matched adult mentors, so that newcomer youth can build positive relationships with adults who have themselves successfully navigated the acculturation experience and know what it is like to “go-between” two cultures.

Goals are to prevent or reverse barriers to success, develop self-esteem, help mentees set goals, and instill pride in one's culture and comfort in American culture.

Mentors work with individuals or sibling groups and are encouraged to be a resource for the entire family.

Culture Connect has developed strong partnerships with area refugee resettlement and ethnic community agencies.



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http://www.brycs.org/promisingpractices/promising-practices-program.cfm?docnum=0098






African Immigrant Mentoring (AIM) program (Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization, Portland, OR)

Matches young African refugee and immigrant women (14-23) facing adjustment challenges with adult mentors from the community

Youth who complete a year of mentoring and who graduate from the service-learning course may become peer mentors

Program graduates are provided with leadership opportunities on the agency’s African Youth Advisory Council


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http://www.irco.org/programs/youth-services/african-immigrant-mentoring-program-aim/

http://www.irco.org/programs/youth-services/african-immigrant-mentoring-program-aim/

Principles for community-based youth services based on key risk

and protective factors…



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Principles* 1. Partner with the community from the start

2. Engage entire family, especially parents

3. Strengthen positive ethnic identification and bicultural identity

4. Encourage youth leadership in the program and in their communities

5. Support academic success and career development

6. Recruit and support staff from the community

7. Build bridges with mainstream organizations and businesses


* Morland, L. (2007). Promising practices in positive youth development with immigrants and refugees. The Prevention Researcher, 14(4):18-20.

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BRYCS Provides…

National Technical Assistance on refugee children & families

Web site & Clearinghouse www.brycs.org

5,000 resources Spotlight Briefs, Promising

Practices, Resource Lists , Webinars, Toolkits

Monthly “What’s New” BRYCS Publications Monthly Email Bulletin Alert

Consultations

BRYCS is supported by the Office of Refugee Resettlement ACF Grant # 90 RB 0032

National TA Network Experts available by telephone

(888-572-6500) & email ([email protected])

Discussion Listserv Topical trainings by request


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mailto:[email protected]

Selected BRYCS Youth Publications

BRYCS Toolkits Growing Up in a New Country: A Positive Youth Development

Toolkit for Working with Refugees and Immigrants Refugee Children in the U.S. Schools: A Toolkit for Teachers

and School Personnel - Refugee and Immigrant Youth and Bullying FAQ

BRYCS Spotlights Adapting Family Strengthening Programs that Build on Assets New Directions in Mentoring Refugee Youth Strengths-Based Programming: Somali Refugee Youth Helping Refugee Youth Find the Right Path Selected Funding Opportunities for Youth Programming


http://www.brycs.org/documents/upload/GrowingUpInANewCountry-Web.pdf



http://www.brycs.org/publications/schools-toolkit.cfm

http://www.brycs.org/publications/schools-toolkit.cfm


http://www.brycs.org/documents/upload/BRYCS-BRIEF-Mentoring-Summer-2010.pdf



http://www.brycs.org/documents/upload/brycs_youth-progfunding.pdf

http://www.brycs.org/youtharts/youth_arts.htm

RHTAC Provides…

National Technical Assistance on refugee health and mental health

Refugee health & mental health resources (www.refugeehealthta.org)

Webinars Continuing Education Credits Community Dialogue discussion forum Trainings Workshops Monthly e-newsletter


http://www.refugeehealthta.org/

Selected RHTAC Resources

Website www.refugeehealthta.org

Youth and Mental Health webpage

Community Dialogue online discussion forum for refugee-serving providers


http://www.refugeehealthta.org/

http://www.refugeehealthta.org/physical-mental-health/mental-health/youth-and-mental-health

http://www.refugeehealthta.org/community-dialogue

BRYCS & RHTAC, Strong Roots & Bright Futures, February 8, 2012 BRYCS Photo / Courtesy of CSS Anchorage

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anchorage of css photo/courtesy brycspublic health (mdph), refugee and immigrant health program...

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