Integrating Mindfulness into the Training of Helping Professionals

Mindfulness refers to the purposeful and nonjudgmental focus on internal and external experiences in the present moment. Extensive research in the fields of psychology, medicine, and counseling has explored the use and benefits of mindfulness-based practice in general. Such research has determined that mindfulness enhances skill development and counselor preparation within the human service professions. Therapeutic and educational settings have thus increasingly embraced mindfulness practices. This exploratory paper posits that the study and practice of mindfulness can be beneficial for both faculty and graduate students in the fields of Mental Health, School Counseling, and School Psychology. The aims of this paper are three-fold: 1. Review the literature on mindfulness-based practices across these disciplines; 2. Assess the benefits of mindfulness and how it aligns with the professional missions; and 3. Outline the contours of a curriculum designed and implemented by the co-authors to educate and train future counselors and school psychologists in mindfulness practices

Integration of unaccompanied migrant youth in the United States: a call for research

Between October 2013 and July 2016, over 156,000 children travelling without their guardians were apprehended at the U.S.–Mexico border and transferred to the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). During that same period, ORR placed over 123,000 unaccompanied migrant youth – predominantly from Central America – with a parent or other adult sponsor residing in the U.S. Following placement, local communities are tasked with integrating migrant youth, many of whom experience pre- and in-transit migration traumas, family separation, limited/interrupted schooling, and unauthorised legal status, placing them at heightened risk for psychological distress, academic disengagement, maltreatment, and human trafficking. Nonetheless, fewer than 10% of young people receive formal post-release services (PRS). This paper addresses the paucity of research on the experiences of the 90% of children and youth without access to PRS. To bridge this gap, this article: (a) describes the post-release experiences of unaccompanied youth, focusing on legal, family, health, and educational contexts; (b) identifies methodological and ethical challenges and solutions in conducting research with this population of young people and their families; and (c) proposes research to identify structural challenges to the provision of services and to inform best practices in support of unaccompanied youth

Exploring battered Mexican-origin women's help-seeking within their socio-cultural contexts

textWomen’s responses to abuse reflect their particular socio-cultural contexts, available resources, and perceived options. In the present study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 75 battered women of Mexican-origin. The study aimed first, to document how these women act to survive abuse, and second, to explore whether socio-cultural variables were associated with help-seeking. Help-seeking was defined as use of formal (i.e., shelter) and informal (i.e., family) sources, as well as the personal strategies (i.e., lock one’s self in a room) that women use to survive abuse. Socio-cultural variables included two cultural variables: machismo (belief in traditional gender roles, male dominance, and female passivity) and familismo (valuing family obligation, cohesion, and reciprocity), and four socio-structural variables: income, education, English proficiency, and immigrant status. Results indicated that, consistent with a survivor theory perspective, participants sought help more than once from several formal and informal help sources; some (i.e., shelter and family) were perceived as more effective than others (i.e., lawyer and partner’s family). Findings further demonstrated that participants engaged in several personal strategies to survive abuse; some (i.e., maintaining a relationship with God) were rated more effective than others (i.e., placating the batterer). Analyses showed women with higher levels of familismo sought informal help more frequently than those with lower levels. Results also indicated that women with only grade school education, no English language skills, and undocumented status sought formal help less frequently than women who were not constrained by these barriers. Contrary to expected results, income and machismo were not found to be related to formal or informal help-seeking. Participants’ responses to four open-ended questions provide context to empirical findings; responses suggest why particular help sources and strategies were or were not effective and provide suggestions for improving services for this population. This study provides socio-culturally relevant information for professionals designing interventions for battered women of Mexican-origin. Findings illuminate battered Mexican-origin women’s strengths, as well as barriers that impede their efforts to survive abuse. The study contributes to existing research because it focused on a specific subset of battered Latinas; gathered information on the frequency and perceived effectiveness of participants’ use of a wide array of help sources and strategies; included a large sample and empirical analyses; and tested whether sociocultural variables related to participants’ help-seeking.Educational Psycholog

The Narration of Collective Trauma

The 1998 murder of African American James Byrd, Jr., in Jasper, Texas, activated narrative strategies within the community that sought to give coherence to, or otherwise appropriate and utilize this trauma for a variety of purposes. Via interviews with community civic and religious leaders, and analysis of their public statements to the media, this article uses psychoanalytic and anthropological frameworks to examine the psychological and structural needs to narrate trauma; struggles over whose narrative holds sway; the emerging story that Jasper presented to the world in an attempt to define itself and narrate what transpired and why; and implications for the silenced narratives

Methodological challenges in participatory action research with undocumented Central American migrants

An interdisciplinary participatory action research (PAR) project was designed in collaboration with local immigrant organizations to document the impact of deportation policy on Central American immigrant families living in the northeastern U.S. This paper reports on selected methodological challenges of university - based co - researchers in this community - university PAR process which is currently concluding its fourth year. The paper discusses the iterative action - reflection processes focusing on: (1) an ove rview of the PAR project and its multiple phases within the U.S. and in Guatemala; (2) select challenges and contributions of the PAR approach for participating immigrant families “living in the shadows” and, (3) methodological concerns from the three co - a uthors, who include a graduate student who joined the early stages of partnership - building; an assistant professor in the early stages of her career; and a senior scholar with many years of experience in activist scholarship. We conclude with thoughts on w hy, despite these challenges, PAR is “worth the trouble”

Framing Immigration to and Deportation from the United States: Guatemalan and Salvadoran Families Make Meaning of Their Experiences

The United States (US) deportation system and its recent applications have profound implications for the integrity and well-being of immigrant families. Since harsh policies were adopted in 1996, millions of non-citizens, mostly from Mexico and Central America, have been forced to leave the US. Despite the large numbers of people directly threatened by the deportation system, little is known about how it affects Central American immigrant children and families. A participatory action research project was designed in collaboration with local immigrant organizations to (1) document the impact of deportation policy on Guatemalan and Salvadoran immigrant families and (2) collaboratively develop services and advocacy that reflect local constructions of needs and strengths within these families. This paper reports analyses of interviews with 18 families; interviews explored participants� experiences and meaning-making of detention, deportation, and other forces that threaten their families. Analyses of interviews demonstrate how participants construct, deconstruct, and reconstruct the significance of current risks posed by the US deportation system; how these risks intersect with other threats to families, including poverty, state-sponsored violence, and previous migrations; and participants� responses to these risks. Implications for sustaining collaborative relationships toward enhancing human service work, community organizing, and redressing injustices are discussed

An ecological expansion of the adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) framework to include threat and deprivation associated with U.S. immigration policies and enforcement practices: An examination of the Latinx immigrant experience.

The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) framework has contributed to advances in developmental science by examining the interdependent and cumulative nature of adverse childhood environmental exposures on life trajectories. Missing from the ACEs framework, however, is the role of pervasive and systematic oppression that afflicts certain racialized groups and that leads to persistent threat and deprivation. In the case of children from immigrant parents, the consequence of a limited ACEs framework is that clinicians and researchers fail to address the psychological violence inflicted on children from increasingly restrictive immigration policies, ramped up immigration enforcement, and national anti-immigration rhetoric. Drawing on the literature with Latinx children, the objective of this conceptual article is to integrate the ecological model with the dimensional model of childhood adversity and psychopathology to highlight how direct experience of detention and deportation, threat of detention and deportation, and exposure to systemic marginalization and deprivation are adverse experiences for many Latinx children in immigrant families. This article highlights that to reduce bias and improve developmental science and practice with immigrants and with U.S.-born children of immigrants, there must be an inclusion of immigration-related threat and deprivation into the ACEs framework. We conclude with a practical and ethical discussion of screening and assessing ACEs in clinical and research settings, using an expanded ecological framework that includes immigration-related threat and deprivation

Latinx Youth's Mental Health Needs and Socioeconomic Factors Associated with Service Utilization

This study examined mental health needs and risk factors associated with service use among Latinx high school students in two cities in the United States. We explored how socioeconomic characteristics, school location, youth and parental nativity, and self-perceived clinical needs were associated with the odds of youths seeing a mental health provider. Data were collected from 306 Latinx youths during the 2018–19 school year. Most youths (78%) self-reported symptoms of anxiety, trauma, or depression above the clinical range. None of these clinical needs predicted service utilization. Youth experiencing less economic hardship and having a mother from South America were almost five times more likely to use services than their counterparts. Similarly, males and older respondents were more likely to be underserved than females and younger respondents. Implications to ensure equitable access to services among older, low-income Latinx youth, particularly those from Central America, the Caribbean, and Mexico, are discussed.Immediate accessThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]