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Immigrant Youth and Navigating Unique Systems That Interact with Treatment

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Psychotherapy for Immigrant Youth

Abstract

Understanding the challenges that immigrant children and their families face as part of the immigration process to the United States of America (USA) is a reflection of their circumstances of arrival and is essential for providing clinical services. Immigrant youth and their families may arrive as refugees, political asylum seekers, or both. Children and youth are particularly vulnerable to being part of a child-trafficking forced migration. Because of these unique circumstances, case management and service coordination often become a significant part of treatment. In many cases, simultaneous coordination between traditional patient care (i.e., general practitioner, psychiatrist, and psychologist), a case manager, a resettlement agency, an attorney, and specific governmental agencies is indicated. Adding to these complications are possible language and cultural barriers that come with migration. With these barriers, children may become cultural brokers to their parents, which has its advantages and disadvantages. Explanations of these systems and specific barriers that immigrant youth and mental health workers may encounter are presented. Case studies are presented in order to help illustrate how clinicians can help patients overcome these barriers and have a successful immigration experience.

An erratum to this chapter can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24693-2_10

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Palo Alto University, 1791 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto, CA, 94304, USA

    David E. Reed II M.S. & Fazia Eltareb M.S.

  2. Abbey Psychological Services, 940 Saratoga Ave., Ste. 200, San Jose, CA, 95129, USA

    Marilee Ruebsamen Ph.D.

  3. Center for Survivors of Torture, Asian Americans for Community Involvement, 2400 Moorpark Ave., San Jose, CA, 95129, USA

    James Livingston Ph.D.

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  1. David E. Reed II M.S.
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  2. Marilee Ruebsamen Ph.D.
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  3. James Livingston Ph.D.
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  4. Fazia Eltareb M.S.
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Correspondence to David E. Reed II M.S. .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Palo Alto University, Palo Alto, California, USA

    Sita Patel

  2. Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California, USA

    Daryn Reicherter

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Reed, D.E., Ruebsamen, M., Livingston, J., Eltareb, F. (2016). Immigrant Youth and Navigating Unique Systems That Interact with Treatment. In: Patel, S., Reicherter, D. (eds) Psychotherapy for Immigrant Youth. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24693-2_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24693-2_9

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-24693-2

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