Cultural Resources - Information for Newcomers to the United States

Mental Health Tools & Resources Refugee Services Toolkit including:
-- Webinar: Suicide Among Refugees
-- Webinar: Promoting Successful Adjustment for Refugee Youth
-- Webinar Series: Introducing and Operationalizing the RHS-15
-- Webinar: Refugee Mental Health
-- Mental Health Services Locator
-- Refugee Health Screener - 15

National Partnership for Community Training (NPCT) is the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s national mental health technical assistance program for refugee service providers. NPCT develops the capacity of resettlement and other refugee programs across the U.S. to help them meet the mental health needs of refugees.

Psychological First Aid (PFA) is an evidence-based intervention designed to help mitigate psychological distress and to facilitate coping and functioning in the immediate aftermath of disasters and other tragic events. PFA is not counseling or therapy and anyone in any sector can provide PFA. This webinar will review the basic principles of PFA, with special consideration given to supporting clients affected by the crisis in Afghanistan. Adaptations to meet the needs of blended or remote service delivery will also be discussed.

This manual gives background information, guiding principles, recommendations, and resources for developing culturally competent disaster mental health services. It includes suggestions for working with refugees and guidelines for using interpreters. Link to a similar publication about violence and terrorism. This manual guides disaster response workers in assisting survivors of mass violence and terrorism and their families. It discusses basic counseling skills, when to refer to mental health services, populations with special needs, and stress prevention and management for workers.

Find mental health treatment services through this web page.

With the current influx of refugee students, teachers will have the task of supporting their integration into American society while bearing in mind the trauma(s) they may have endured. Article with links to resources.

Learn how to build culture and trust, maintain and strengthen family relationships, and use a strengths-based approach to with children and families.

While teachers are not social workers, just saying the right things to a student suffering from trauma can make a big difference. One of the easiest and most powerful tools that you have to make a student feel seen and heard is your language. By doing something as slight as changing the words that you use with students, both in times of stress and in small, everyday interactions, you can make a greater impact than you might expect.

Linguistic Justice acknowledges that ALL languages and language forms are beautiful and valuable. Linguistic Justice calls on us to change our perspective and to view the way a person naturally communicates as an asset rather than something to be corrected.

Examining your beliefs and opening your mind to new interpretations of the behavior of those struggling without basic needs. Doing so, however, is the first step to improving your success and effectiveness with educating students in poverty and helping end the cycle of suffering. Your attitudes and beliefs shapes your tone of voice, your body posture, your facial expressions and your actions towards students.

Prolonged activation of the body's stress response can short-circuit the brain's ability to learn which has long term consequences for the individual's future education and the ability to earn a living. Links to information about trauma and violence can impact learners of all ages. Includes a webinar about trauma and the brain led by Mays Imad, Ph.D., a professor of Genetics, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Pima Community College (Tucson, AZ) as well as the founding coordinator of the Teaching and Learning Center.

Exposure to potentially traumatic events, which can have a significant impact on brain mechanisms for language learning, is high in adult ELL classrooms. Strategies targeting attention and memory networks presented here may mitigate those effects.
Key words: trauma, adult English language learners, language acquisition, cognitive function, attention, mindfulness

Director Professor Counselor Education Programs, Debra Murray of Viterbo University, shares concrete examples of what to expect in terms of behaviors, facial expressions, and body language from individuals who have lived through the trauma of having to evacuate their homes and countries. She also provides concrete examples of how to communicate with them.