RESILIENCE FOR YOUTH: WORKING WITH TRAUMATIZED IMMIGRANT CHILDREN [HILSC]

The Houston Immigration Legal Services Collaboration (HILSC) and member organizations (Tahirih Justice Center, Justice for Our Neighbors, the Children’s Immigration Law Academy), along with Rosalie Hyde, LCSW (Houston Galveston Trauma Institute) present a new webinar series: Mental Health Evaluations for Immigrant Clients: From Your First Interview to the Merits Hearing! A high-quality forensic evaluation is often the difference between winning and losing an immigration case. Immigration legal services providers and mental health experts must work closely together to address clients’ trauma so they can advocate for themselves in the complex immigration system. This series aims to train attorneys to effectively work with mental health evaluators by learning trauma-informed lawyering, how to set up a forensic evaluation, the role of the forensic evaluation in your case, preparing for expert testimony, and special considerations for working with child clients. This second webinar, Resilience for Youth: Working with Traumatized Immigrant Children builds on the introduction to trauma informed lawyering and highlights special considerations for working with children facing deportation in the immigration system.  Experts in this field will help advocates understand how trauma may present itself in young people given their journeys to the United States and subsequent detention and placement in removal proceedings upon arrival.  Our presenters will also provide additional tips for creating safe spaces for child clients to share their stories and empowering them to seek additional support to address trauma symptoms.