Immigration Evaluations: Be Prepared

9/15/2022

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The immigration process can be very confusing and stressful for applicants. The best way to combat these feelings that cause anxiety is to be prepared before you walk into your meeting with a mental health clinician. Here is the truth about the referral to a clinician most of you don’t know.
An attorney will often recommend you seek out the expertise of a clinician who specializes in conducting immigration evaluations, because your case may lack some of the concrete evidence needed to substantiate a defense. No medical records, police reports, or other supportive documentation to submit for evidence leads many attorneys to rely on the clinical knowledge a well-trained clinician possess. These well-trained clinicians can pull past childhood experiences, life stressors in adulthood, and most recent legal proceedings together to clinically articulate the current or potentially future mental health challenges if an individual is removed from the country (United States). Typically, the interviewee is a family member or the applicant petitioning to the courts.
5 tips to help your case!

Know what your application is. Many of the clients who come into our offices seeking an evaluation are unclear why they have been referred are do not know the details of their petition. You need to have some awareness of the petition your attorney is submitting to the court (i.e. Asylum, U-Visa, Extreme Hardship, VAWA, DACA, etc.). This information is extremely useful in helping the clinician navigate the interview process and decipher what assessment tools to administer for session two if appropriate.
Bring copies of any supportive documents you submitted to your attorney in regard to your petition. When providing these materials, a clinician can reference concrete evidence submitted to the court for consideration. This avoids making decisions from “He said, she said during the interview…” These evaluations are from the premise of clients telling the truth. When documents are provided, this may help solidify claims by the interviewee.
Inform the clinician if there are any pertinent deadlines in which the report needs to be submitted. Waiting to have these evaluations completed nearing the date of your next court appearance is a huge concern for the clinician who faces that much more anxiety making your report expedited. Let the clinician know in advance when your next court date is, which leads me to tip number 4.
Allow access for the clinician to have direct lines of communication with your attorney. This closes the gap in communication and helps with having your specific needs met. Questions that may be asked are:
1. Why do you (the attorney) think an evaluation might help the case?
2. What type of Visa are you pursuing?
3. What areas of the client’s life experiences would you like the therapist to focus on?
Be Honest. The worst thing you can do is try to deceive the clinician during your evaluation. Honesty is the best policy for these evaluations. If the clinician probes and interviews well, they can link the mental health symptoms or potential challenges to your case. Therefore, you trust and invest in us (clinicians) to do this work on your behalf.

Just a friendly reminder these evaluations are not to assess if you are mentally unstable or “Crazy.” These evaluations are to help clinically articulate symptoms, or the potential of mental health challenges faced if you or a loved one is removed from the country (US). For immigration evaluation questions you can contact M2M where “We help people turn their minor setbacks into major comebacks.”

By: JereMy J. Rankins, MA LPC

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Therapy for Black and Latino People in America

5/29/2022

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Therapy for You
May 2022

Trauma in minority communities. What do the stats say?

INSIDE
Article written by Professional Counselor
Jere’My J. Rankins, MA
New finds this week
Trauma in the minority community
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The observer
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Here are the Facts…
Texas Department of Family and Protective Services has a wonderful training that offers insight into the effects of Trauma amongst lower-income and minority communities.
For contextual reasons we will need to define what Disproportionality means: A particular race or cultural group is over-represented in a program or system.
For Example, in Texas:

A higher percentage of African Americana children are removed from their homes compared to children of other races and ethnic groups.
A lower percentage is successfully reunified with their families.
A higher percentage aged out of foster care without an adoptive family or other permanent placement.
African Americans and Latinos are less likely to be adopted within 12 months of termination of parental rights.

Disparity refers to differences in outcomes for some groups of people because of unequal treatment or services. Meeting the needs of children of color requires understanding the disparities in:

Knowledge about services
Access to services
Quality and appropriate available services

African Americans in the United States of America suffer from the most childhood trauma and have been since their captivity. From generation to generation, African Americans have suffered from trauma in the oppressive economies that they were born in. Closely behind African American children who suffer from childhood trauma is the Latino community. These two ethnic groups suffer the most in the United States from oppression and childhood struggles that lead to lifelong stressors.
Here is what you do about it
Therapy is an approach people take to work through issues in a systematic way. Admitting to having a possible problem is only the beginning to recovery. When we admit to having mental health challenges we can then start focusing on the treatment.
Oftentimes therapy clients will come into my office not realizing they have an issue or a specific problem until it is processed through exploring history and experiences. There is learning in taking a step back and observing behavioral patterns in our routines. Our behaviors will often reflect how we see and navigate the environment we live in. A clinician who is well versed in the areas of human development and behavior can assess these behavioral patterns and diagnose an issue with precision.
Therapy is an alternative to learning skills and strategies for healing. A therapist can also be your punching bag, figuratively speaking. Many people need someone to express thoughts and feelings without judgment and we are those professionals who are trained and qualified to give you non-judgmental feedback if you are willing to receive it with love. An open heart makes for great progress in therapy.
Self-Care and Love
The simplest form of healing is, to begin with loving yourself. Most people think that their children or family come first. How many times have you seen that on a social media post or headline? This lives on many dating profiles, “My kids come first.” That is the biggest red flag. If you are pouring into other people and loving others before yourself then it is only a matter of time before the strain of life stressors becomes too much. You begin lashing out at those you love the most. You may end up becoming easily irritable and constantly in a down mood. Your ill mood may spill over into your physical health and you may have gastrointestinal complications. You may suffer from migraine headaches and other health-related illnesses that are directly associated with your mental challenges.
Do us all a favor and start loving yourself more often. We need you to be well enough to take care of those who need you the most.

Here are some strategies and recommendations for helping you improve your mood:

Exercise
Pray
Plan to do something risky or out of character as long as it is safe (i.e., parachuting, mountain climbing, snorkeling, swimming with dolphins or sharks)
Hygiene-Get nails done, hair cut, facials, massage, etc.
Go out with friends and or family
Cut toxic relationships out of your life
Do whatever brings you peace and does not cause harm to you or anybody else.

We can go to therapy, read books, and take medications to help ourselves feel better. But at the end of the day for us to have a true transformation in our lives it must happen with action. What action are you willing to take to gain the control and power over your life that you desire?

Turn your Minor setback into a Major comeback.
by Jere’My J. Rankins, MA LPC

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