- RELATED
Luchando Junt@s Por Una Familia Unida (Fighting Together for a United Family): Rebuilding the Cohesive Self of Immigrant Parents and Community Healing after a Family Separation in the United States — A Self Psychology Perspective
May 20, 2024
Virtual | ZOOM
[ No CE Hours ]
Date: Monday, May 20, 2024
Time: 7:30 pm - 8:30 pm EDT
Fee: FREE
Location: Online via ZOOM
Questions? Please contact Joel Kanter, joel.kanter@gmail.com
Register Online
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0vf-6pqj8pGtSllm69AbC2jftH6EHktB2Q
Program
Cheryl Aguilar, MSW, LICSW
Teresa Méndez, LCSW-C, LICSW (Moderator)
Join the AAPCSW DC Area group for an online discussion with Cheryl Aguilar of her recent article in the Clinical Social Work Journal "Luchando Junt@s Por Una Familia Unida (Fighting Together for a United Family): Rebuilding the Cohesive Self of Immigrant Parents and Community Healing after a Family Separation in the United States — A Self Psychology Perspective." We look forward to a lively discussion of the important issues that this paper discusses.
Biographies
Cheryl Aguilar, MSW, LICSW is the founder and therapist at Hope Center for Wellness, a multicultural mental health practice focused on holistic healing. She is pursuing a social work Phd degree at Smith College School for Social Work. Cheryl is also a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Health Policy Research Scholar fellow and an American Psychological Association's Interdisciplinary Minority fellow. In 2023, Cheryl was named Social Worker of the Year by the National Association of Social Workers DC/VA chapter. She is also the new Co-Chair of the DC Area Group of AAPCSW.
Teresa Méndez, LCSW-C, LICSW. Past Co-President, AAPCSW. Candidate, Washington Baltimore Center for Psychoanalysis. Editorial Board, Psychoanalytic Social Work Journal. Private Practice, Baltimore, MD.
Article - PDF Download
Luchando Junt@s Por Una Familia Unida (Fighting Together for a United Family): Rebuilding the Cohesive Self of Immigrant Parents and Community Healing after a Family Separation in the United States — A Self Psychology Perspective
Source: Springer.com
Article Abstract: The Zero Tolerance policy implemented by the Trump administration resulted in the separation of thousands of Central American families seeking asylum at the U.S. Southern border. This policy has had a devastating impact on the mental health of parents and their children. While most of the literature on forced immigration family separation, and reunification focuses on children's traumatic responses, it is essential to expand the literature to include the impact on parents, who can help mitigate the negative consequences of adverse events and traumatic stress on their children. When parents are not provided with adequate culturally sensitive healing interventions, their distress, and emotional needs may affect their ability to effectively support their children. Using a self psychology lens, this theoretical article sheds light on the psychological experiences of Central American parents who endured forced family separation. It also contributes knowledge to self psychology theory and its integration into group work with Central Americans. This article draws from the literature, my clinical experience with immigrants and refugees, and my work with Central American asylum-seeking families impacted by the “zero tolerance” immigration policy to argue that self psychology provides a lens for understanding the impact of the government's empathic failure on parents upon entering the United States that led to a blow to parents' cohesive self. Parents' cohesive self can be restored with sufficient collective twinship, mirroring, and idealizing experiences, which in self-psychology are paramount psychological needs to be met for building and maintaining a strong self.
