Trauma Informed Mental Health Care
About Trauma Informed Mental Health Care
Refugee, immigrant, and migrant (RIM) populations are at higher risk of mental health issues due to many factors. RIM populations may be forcibly displaced from their home countries due to war, armed conflict, political violence, and torture. During migration, RIM individuals may be subject to detention, forced labor, and lack of access to basic services. Lastly, post-migration trauma is riddled with its own set of challenges related to settlement and integration such as cultural bereavement, lack of resources for proper acculturation, and instability.
RIM populations are at increased risk for depression or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), in particular. Evidence suggests that individuals from RIM backgrounds may also experience persistent symptoms of PTSD and depression several years beyond initial resettlement. To address such an alarming and exacerbated need within this population, it is critical that trauma-informed mental healthcare assistance is provided. To this end, we have implemented several trauma-informed care initiatives which are further detailed below.
Go to our Events page where you can view our trauma informed care webinar and register for access to our Trauma-Informed Care online course when it is open.
Overview
Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET), an evidence-based intervention for the treatment of PTSD, is a practical solution to assist overstrained health systems with additional culturally appropriate care. It is a brief, standardized, exposure-based type of cognitive behavioural therapy originally designed to address trauma spectrum disorders in RIM communities worldwide. In NET, an individual is guided through the construction of an autobiographical narrative, with a focus on traumatic experiences over the course of 12 weekly sessions each lasting about 90 minutes. The goals of this study were to (1) identify and train community members in NET, and (2) implement a lay counselor-based implementation of NET to Afghan mothers with trauma exposure.
Dates: May, 2022 – September, 2023
Funding: Jesse Parker Williams Foundation; Georgia Health Foundation; Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Georgia, Inc.
Leadership Team: Ashli Owen-Smith; Danie Meyer; Jonathan Orr; Amenah Arman; Mary Helen O’Connor; Armenda Bialas
Publications/Tools:
Cohort of NET trainees. Training took place in March of 2023.
One important aspect of NET training often involves a “community lifeline event”. At this event, all community members are invited to a common, welcoming location (in this case it was Refuge Coffee in downtown Clarkston) and asked to think about their favorite moments in Clarkston. They are then asked to pick one memory, write it down on a piece of paper, and to place that note and a flower of their choosing on the “lifeline” of the Clarkston community. The beginning of the rope symbolizes the start of the community, leading up to today, ending in a coil at the end, symbolizing the future of the community. Our Community Lifeline event occurred in March 2023.
Overview
RIM individuals are often exposed to traumatic pre-migration, migration, and post-migration experiences, thus increasing their risk of mental health issues including depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. In addition to the profound effect this can have on the individual him/herself, exposure to trauma can also have a significant impact on the family. Numerous studies suggest parental PTSD symptoms contribute to a lack of communication with and a detachment from children, parent-child role-reversal, greater family conflict and less family cohesion. A consistent finding across these studies is that parental traumatic distress increases the likelihood of stressful family environments, posing increased risk to the well-being of children.
Thus, there is an urgent need for mental health care among RIM populations, and particularly for mothers given that they more often serve as children's primary caregivers. Unfortunately, there are significant, systemic barriers to access to mental healthcare coupled with an overstrained mental healthcare system. One promising solution is the dissemination of group-based psychoeducational interventions that teach crucial knowledge about mental health conditions, their impact on daily life, and effective coping mechanisms. These types of approaches can address access-related challenges by reaching many individuals simultaneously while offering the potential to decrease mental health-related consequences for both individuals and their families.
Though there have been some prior studies that have explored the impact of psychoeducation-based interventions for RIM populations, most have utilized only quantitative measures to assess change over time, which may not thoroughly capture the nuances of individual experiences and perceived utility of participating in the program.
In light of these considerations, the goals of this project were to:
- Quantitatively evaluate the effectiveness of a five-week psychoeducation intervention across trauma-exposed RIM mothers from Afghanistan
- Qualitatively understand participant perceptions about impact and opportunities for improvement
Dates: September 2023 – June 2024
Funding: Jesse Parker Williams Foundation; Georgia Health Foundation; Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Georgia, Inc.
Leadership Team: Ashli Owen-Smith; Jonathan Orr; Amenah Arman; Armenda Bialas; Shaista Amani; Zuhal Sayed; Maryam Ayam; Mary Helen O’Connor
Publications/Tools:
Contact Us
E-mail the Prevention Research Center at Georgia State.
