Refugee and Immigrant Mental Health Round-Table

On Wednesday, October 5, 2016, Nile Sisters Development Initiative hosted a round-table discussion on the mental and behavioral health needs of refugees and immigrants, and stakeholders engaged in dialogue to identify and share key issues impacting their communities.

During the dialogue, the following themes emerged:

• utilizing a holistic, trauma-informed approach that examines an individual’s entire life cycle before, during and after migration
• increasing education about the unique “life structure” of each ethnic community, such as the cultural and spiritual foundations which hold it together
• adopting culturally appropriate screening tools that incorporate the worldviews of San Diego’s refugee and immigrant communities
• ensuring culturally and linguistically appropriate services are accessible, such as interpreters that are trained for the appropriate settings
• conducting a needs-assessment to strengthen the evidence-base regarding the health needs of refugee and immigrant communities in San Diego County