Samantha Nau,
I. Project goals:
I partnered with the Marjorie Kovler Center (MKC) for my Steans Center Fellowship project. My project was designed to learn about the unique experiences and needs of clients at MKC who have survived torture and have sought asylum. MKC provides wrap-around services, including legal assistance, mental and physical healthcare, assistance with food, housing, employment, and other social services. They serve various marginalized populations including asylees, refugees, and other individuals who have been forcibly displaced and victims of human trafficking. My project involved conducting semi-structured interviews that consisted of basic demographic questions (e.g., their age and country of origin). I also inquired about their experiences with applying for asylum and going through the immigration process (e.g., whether they are currently working with a lawyer). Additionally, participants were asked about their experiences with others (e.g., interactions with people in their life since coming to the U.S.).
My first project goal was to better understand how mental health and well-being of asylum seekers are impacted by post-migration stressors associated with the immigration process. I also set out to explore how subjective views of the sociopolitical climate in the United Sates (i.e. interactions with others, news of immigration policy changes, and xenophobic and racially oppressive messaging, etc.) affects asylum seekers' sense of well-being. The process of applying for asylum and going through the immigration system is often a long and confusing journey. Many asylum seekers spend years waiting for asylum and living in a state of prolonged uncertainty while they wait for a final outcome on their asylum case. During this time, many asylees remain in a state of limbo while they are separated from their loved ones and struggling with daily stressors like finding employment, housing, and working through language and cultural barriers. Asylum seekers who have survived torture may face a higher level of distress due to complex histories of trauma than their counterparts.
My second goal was to share results from this study with the Marjorie Kovler Center in the form of a report, in addition to my dissertation manuscript. My hope is that findings from this research will be used by MKC staff to assist them in continuing to provide effective and salient services that are responsive to the unique needs of asylum-seeking clients. Furthermore, I believe this report can be a useful tool for new staff and trainees as they join MKC. As a previous student therapist, I believe that the information shared within the interviews can help provide more insight into the experiences of clients as they navigate our immigration system. Because many clients lack secure legal status, learning more about the process of applying for asylum and clients' interactions with lawyers, asylum officers, and immigration court, could help prepare trainees for the distinct challenges that clients are faced with as they seek asylum. I am hopeful that the final report may also help trainees develop an understanding of mental health through an ecological framework. Mental health treatment with MKC clients often involves helping them connect to social services, legal support, and community networks as part of the healing process.
II. Progress made on project goals:
Over the course of my Steans Center Fellowship, I was able to meet my first goal of successfully conducting six semi-structured interviews with clients who had sought services from the Marjorie Kovler
Center. I was able to learn more about their experiences of navigating the immigration system, as well as their personal reflections on barriers they encountered along the way, and their sense of well-being. I am currently working with a team of research assistants to analyze the qualitative data using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). I am using IPA to explore how participants make meaning of their experiences and to identify patterns and themes that may be shared across participants.
I am still working on finishing the steps needed to complete my second goal. I will continue to analyze this data and present the finalized themes from the interviews in my final report for the Marjorie Kovler Center. Although I am in the early stages of qualitative analysis, some preliminary themes that have come from the interview transcripts include: need for self-advocacy, uncertainty about the immigration process and outcomes, criminalization of asylum seekers, and need for more training – both for people working within the immigration system and for asylum seekers.
III. Challenges facing the project and/or continued work on the project:
The main challenge that I faced while completing my project was recruiting participants for the study. In order to increase enrollment I attended several social events at the Marjorie Kovler Center to talk to more clients about the study, I posted flyers around the building, I used word of mouth while meeting with other trainees and staff, and I expanded my inclusion criteria for the study. I also consulted with others to brainstorm additional recruitment methods. Ultimately, my efforts to increase recruitment led to the recruitment of six participants over the course of the three quarters for the fellowship. Recruitment efforts became more challenging as I transitioned out of my position as a student therapist at the Marjorie Kovler Center and started my predoctoral internship year at another training site. I found it more difficult to recruit possible participants when I was no longer training with the organization. Now that I am done conducting interviews, I will continue to working with my team to analyze the data, write up the results, and present the outcomes in the form of a finalized report and my dissertation manuscript.
IV. Project impact on issues of social equity and/or sustainability:
I wanted to work in partnership with the Marjorie Kovler Center for my fellowship project because I hoped that the information gathered from the interviews would help provide a better understanding of the needs of asylum-seeking clients. Without secure legal status, asylum seekers are not given the same protections as other immigrant and forced migrant populations. For example, it may be more difficult to secure stable housing, obtain a work permit, access medical and mental health services, and connect with other critical services, such as English as a Second Language courses. For these reasons, many asylum seekers are further marginalized and face a new set of chronic stressors throughout their migration journey and after resettlement. These factors, along with prolonged uncertainty about legal status and separation from families and communities, put asylum seekers at heightened risk of distress and developing or exacerbating psychopathology. As an organization, MKC works diligently to meet the complex needs of clients through a holistic and ecological approach. In
addition to offering mental and physical health services, they also offer occupational therapy and case management services that help connect clients to housing, employment opportunities, legal immigration services, and community resources.
Many clients who are seeking services at the Marjorie Kovler Center have faced many forms of persecution, marginalization and discrimination. As asylum seekers, and as survivors of torture, clients at MKC have been forced to flee their home countries due to having past experiences of politically sanctioned torture, and due to having a well-founded fear of being killed or severely injured. In addition to ongoing exposure to hardships, violence, and trauma in their countries of origin and along their migration journey, asylum seekers are forced to suffer under the institutionalized violence that is embedded in our immigration system. Furthermore, many of the clients who are seeking services are also coming from countries in Africa and are faced with the added level of racial discrimination while migrating and in the U.S. Clients who are seeking services at MKC have often faced ongoing marginalization due to their identities within certain social groups, political affiliations, race, ethnic background, religious beliefs, etc. MKC works to create a place of safety where clients can start to heal from past injustices and violence that they have faced. Through my fellowship project, I wanted to help play a role in understanding the special needs of the clients. This information will be shared with MKC staff to help them continue providing effective and salient services that address these needs.
As a previous student therapist within MKC's Survivors of Torture Program, my clinical work with clients was heavily focused on processing and managing the stress that comes from navigating the immigration system. Like many other forced migrant populations, it is important to focus not just on past trauma, but also the distress that comes from navigating current daily stressors related to resettlement. These daily stressors related to seeking asylum and migration can lead to increased and ongoing distress. I would like for my report and findings to be used as a guide to future student therapists and other new MKC staff to better understand how going through the immigration process may be impacting their clients.