Imperative Resilience: What Latina Migrant Mothers Can Teach Clinicians about Trauma and Recovery
May 03, 2023Information
YCSC Grand Rounds April 25, 2023
Viola Bernard Special Lecture
Jessica Cerdena, PhD, MD Candidate and Medical Anthropologist at Yale
ID9894
To CiteDCA Citation Guide
- 00:00So good afternoon
- 00:02to those who are in the Cohen
- 00:04in person and via Zoom.
- 00:06It's my pleasure to welcome you to
- 00:08today's Viola Bernard lecture series
- 00:10presentation Imperative resilience,
- 00:12what Latina migrant mothers can teach
- 00:14clinicians about trauma and recovery.
- 00:16So before we get into that,
- 00:18I just want to remind you all that this
- 00:20is one of our lectures for which we have
- 00:24been granted 1 cultural competency unit.
- 00:26From the National Association
- 00:28of Social Workers.
- 00:29So if you are a masters person
- 00:34seeking licensure renewal,
- 00:36this will count towards your CEU's
- 00:38and if you anyone else in our
- 00:41community needs a cultural competency.
- 00:44Unit for their license or this
- 00:46will count for that as well.
- 00:47So for everyone,
- 00:48we just need you to sign in
- 00:50via the usual ways.
- 00:51Kieran's going to drop that in the
- 00:53chat for those online and there,
- 00:55the code is actually at the door
- 00:58and in the back for signing in.
- 01:00I don't have it present at the moment,
- 01:03but we'll take care of it
- 01:05and then what we'll need you to do.
- 01:08We would invite everyone to
- 01:09complete the evaluation at the end.
- 01:11It helps us to understand.
- 01:13If our presentations through grounds
- 01:15are hitting our objectives and also to
- 01:17get feedback from you and also it asks
- 01:20for suggestions for other speakers.
- 01:22So to get the CEU's we need you to sign in.
- 01:25At the end of Doctor Sedanya's presentation
- 01:28there will be two QR codes on the screen,
- 01:31one will be to sign out and
- 01:34the other will be for the eval.
- 01:36So please be sure to do that and for
- 01:37those of you who are in here you can
- 01:39also access that On the doors we have
- 01:41the QR codes for you to sign in as.
- 01:43Sign out as well
- 01:4834683 is what you should text to
- 01:52sign it 34683 so if you can take
- 01:55care of that that would be great.
- 01:57And so and thank you for helping
- 01:59us with this pilot for providing
- 02:02CEU's to make sure that all of
- 02:03our folks in our community can get
- 02:05credits for attending these that
- 02:06are useful for their licensure so.
- 02:11Logistics aside, I would before
- 02:13I introduce Doctor Sylvania,
- 02:15I want to first take a moment to
- 02:16share some information about Doctor
- 02:18Viola Bernard, her life's work
- 02:20and her generosity to our center.
- 02:22Viola W Bernard was a prominent New
- 02:24York psychiatrist, psychoanalyst,
- 02:25child welfare advocate,
- 02:27and political activist. Dr.
- 02:29Bernard was a founder of the
- 02:31field of community psychiatry,
- 02:32which sought to use psychiatric insights
- 02:35to address larger social purposes.
- 02:37She was an influential force in numerous
- 02:39child welfare organizations in New York City,
- 02:42was active in many
- 02:43professional organizations,
- 02:44and had particular expertise in the
- 02:47psychological issues surrounding
- 02:48adoption and infertility.
- 02:50Her work helped to expand adoptions
- 02:52to include children who had been
- 02:54systematically marginalized.
- 02:55Bernard helped found the Columbia
- 02:58University Center for Psychoanalytic
- 03:00Training and Research and was director
- 03:02of the university's Division of
- 03:03Community and Social Psychiatry.
- 03:08And I lost a joint program of
- 03:10the Department of Psychiatry and
- 03:11Columbia School of Public Health and
- 03:13served as a medical director of the
- 03:15Family Development Research Unit,
- 03:17a longterm study of the psychodynamics,
- 03:20which was, which was a longterm study of
- 03:23the psychodynamics of family in formation.
- 03:26Her dedication to social justice
- 03:28and HealthEquity and innovation,
- 03:30and the generosity of the Viola
- 03:32Bernard Foundation is part of
- 03:33what brings us here today.
- 03:35The Viola Bernard Foundation has a long
- 03:37history of supporting the Child Study Center,
- 03:39especially in the early 2000s.
- 03:42Doctor Bernard had little patience
- 03:44for bandaid solutions and sought
- 03:46instead to take multidisciplinary,
- 03:48multifaceted approaches to complex
- 03:49problems with the goal of producing
- 03:52sustainable and replicable solutions.
- 03:54It is in this spirit and dedication of
- 03:59Viola Bernard and the Child Study Center's
- 04:01approach of discovery inspiring care.
- 04:03That led to the establishment
- 04:05of the Viola W Bernard Fund.
- 04:07With their support,
- 04:09we founded the Viola Bernard
- 04:10Prize for Social Innovation and
- 04:12Mental Healthcare Delivery,
- 04:14in which we asked our community
- 04:16to innovate while incorporating
- 04:17the principles of design Justice,
- 04:19which seeks to center the voices
- 04:21of those served.
- 04:22Carla Marin was the recipient
- 04:24of last year's award,
- 04:25with Dakota Becker receiving a smaller
- 04:27award to support the portion of her
- 04:29project that incorporated Design justice.
- 04:31We're about to launch the second
- 04:33cycle of the award in May and
- 04:35hope to support other innovative
- 04:37healthcare delivery approaches.
- 04:38We're grateful to the Viola W
- 04:40Bernard Fund for the generous
- 04:42support which enhances our focus on
- 04:44HealthEquity and social justice.
- 04:46The other established contribution
- 04:47to the center is the lecture series,
- 04:50which is what brings us together today.
- 04:52And so when I try to think.
- 04:54Of speakers.
- 04:55I try to imagine who Doctor Bernard
- 04:57would be interested and excited to
- 04:59speak to and collaborate with to solve
- 05:02some of today's pressing challenges.
- 05:04And that brings me to today's speaker,
- 05:06Doctor Jessica Sedina.
- 05:07So when I'm out with my family
- 05:10or at the Child Study Center,
- 05:11I wear another hat in the community as
- 05:13the cochair of the Prossa Latino Fund.
- 05:15And that's an organization that
- 05:17seeks to elevate Latino leaders,
- 05:19celebrate our culture,
- 05:20and expand philanthropy within
- 05:22the Latinate community.
- 05:23And it's through this role that
- 05:25Doctor Sedania's work came to my
- 05:27attention as Lee Cruz shared her book
- 05:29and invited us to support a program
- 05:30to share her work within New Haven.
- 05:32And so as I got to know more about this,
- 05:35it really seemed like this would be
- 05:37a really fantastic talk for us today.
- 05:40So as we expand our understanding
- 05:42and recognize that much of the
- 05:44research we've learned from has
- 05:46not included diverse experiences,
- 05:48I was eager to hear more about what she
- 05:50learned from Latina migrant mothers.
- 05:53Since then,
- 05:53I've seen Justin's name popping
- 05:55up in many places, and tomorrow,
- 05:57in this very space,
- 05:58she'll be actually be hosted by the
- 06:00Program for Humanities and Medicine
- 06:02with a discussion and reading of her book.
- 06:04So just received her PhD in medical
- 06:07anthropology from Yale as part
- 06:08of the Medical Scientist Training
- 06:10Program at Yale School of Medicine.
- 06:12Her research broadly examines the biosocial
- 06:15underpinnings of health inequities,
- 06:17using scholarship and activism
- 06:19as tools for health justice.
- 06:22As an anthropologist,
- 06:23just authored the book Pressing
- 06:25Onward the Imperative Resilience
- 06:27of Latina Migrant Mothers,
- 06:28which narrates the ways women who
- 06:30migrated from Latin America overcome
- 06:32structural oppression to build futures
- 06:34for themselves and their children.
- 06:37In the realm of academic,
- 06:38Medicine just cocoined the term
- 06:40race conscious medicine as an
- 06:42alternative to racebased medicine
- 06:44to emphasize how racism rather than
- 06:47race determines illness and health,
- 06:49which you can read about in
- 06:51her numerous publications.
- 06:52Just aspires to a career as
- 06:54a family physician,
- 06:54anthropologist working at the
- 06:56intersection of research,
- 06:57community oriented,
- 06:58primary care and health policy.
- 07:01And she's matched into residency
- 07:03at middle at Middlesex Hospital
- 07:04and thankfully will continue her
- 07:06work locally in Connecticut as
- 07:08a community family physician.
- 07:10So before I bring Jess up,
- 07:11just a little note about her talk,
- 07:13which is the title is Imperative
- 07:15Resilience What Latina Migrant
- 07:17Mothers Can Teach Clinicians.
- 07:19About trauma and recovery.
- 07:21And so to me that invites us to
- 07:24put on our culturally humble hat,
- 07:26to listen to new ways of knowing
- 07:28and understanding,
- 07:29and just maybe suspend for a moment
- 07:31many of the teachings and things that
- 07:33you have learned beforehand to be
- 07:35open to these lessons that we can be taught.
- 07:38So without further ado,
- 07:40please welcome Jessica Seddenia.
- 07:49Thank you so much for that beautiful
- 07:51introduction and for the invitation
- 07:52to be here with you all today.
- 07:54It's really an honor.
- 07:56I I actually started a lot of this
- 07:58work with the with the general kind of
- 08:01psychiatry frame when I first kind of
- 08:04became interested in the experiences
- 08:05of migrant women as I was working as
- 08:08a behavioral health psychoeducator
- 08:09at Haven Free clinic and receiving
- 08:11a lot of training from psychiatrist
- 08:13actually at the Hispanic clinic.
- 08:14So it really is kind of a full
- 08:16circle moment here for me to be
- 08:18speaking to this audience.
- 08:19Of folks who come from a field that
- 08:21has largely informed my training
- 08:23and my orientation to approaching
- 08:25these kinds of questions.
- 08:27So my comments today come from years of
- 08:31research and engagement with migrant mothers,
- 08:34clinicians,
- 08:34and community leaders in New Haven
- 08:36and form the basis of my book.
- 08:39And given the focus of this seminar series,
- 08:41I want to focus this talk on
- 08:44the traumatic experiences that
- 08:45mothers have endured during their
- 08:47migrations from Latin America.
- 08:49This concept of imperative resilience,
- 08:52which I developed to describe how
- 08:55migrant mothers enact psychological,
- 08:57social and emotional strategies to get by
- 09:00or press onward in their daytoday lives,
- 09:02the impacts of the COVID-19
- 09:05pandemic on migrant families.
- 09:06And policy solutions to envision
- 09:09more nurturing environments for the
- 09:11patients and families in our care.
- 09:13I value and look forward to your
- 09:15feedback and hope that we can have
- 09:16a rich discussion at the end.
- 09:22Miss. I'm very sorry.
- 09:24Lydia halted her voice.
- 09:26Lacking the easy confidence
- 09:27of our earlier conversation,
- 09:29I worry that my details could be exposed.
- 09:32And the truth is very concerning,
- 09:34above all for the safety of my family.
- 09:37I reassured Lydia that her information
- 09:39would remain confidential and that
- 09:40she was welcome to share no more than
- 09:42she felt comfortable in Honduras.
- 09:44My husband was a doctor.
- 09:46He worked for the Ministry of Health
- 09:47and for the Attorney General's office.
- 09:49He was a coroner in the area where I lived,
- 09:52Lydia began, tentatively.
- 09:54What happened is that about a year ago,
- 09:57my husband began receiving
- 09:58anonymous letters at the door.
- 10:03After a couple months,
- 10:04my husband moved us to town
- 10:06about 20 or 30 minutes away,
- 10:07saying it was so that I
- 10:09could be closer to my work.
- 10:10But we were only about there a
- 10:12month when he tells me, look,
- 10:13my assignment has changed and
- 10:15we need to move to the city.
- 10:16The city was about six or seven
- 10:18hours away and so I asked myself,
- 10:19how could it be that we
- 10:21just unpacked our things.
- 10:22The last box from our moved a few
- 10:23days ago and we have to move again.
- 10:25My husband said again that
- 10:27it was due to work.
- 10:29So we moved and found a
- 10:30new school for my son.
- 10:31And then again,
- 10:31after about four or five months
- 10:33I noticed that my husband
- 10:34was acting more strangely.
- 10:36He never said anything to me,
- 10:37but I could tell and I would ask
- 10:38him about it and he would say he
- 10:40would never say anything until
- 10:41one morning before going to work
- 10:43he woke me up and said look,
- 10:45I I need to talk to you.
- 10:48That morning he had found my car
- 10:49with the entire passenger side
- 10:51beaten in and he found a note that
- 10:53said as much as you want to hide,
- 10:54we know where you are and we know
- 10:57where your wife and your son are.
- 10:58The police said that they were going
- 11:00to protect us, but it never happened.
- 11:02No one was outside the house.
- 11:04No one knocked on our door.
- 11:05To say we're here in case
- 11:07of any suspicious activity,
- 11:08I mean nothing, Nothing, nothing.
- 11:11We had a tourist visa for the US that
- 11:13we'd received three years prior.
- 11:14By the grace of God,
- 11:16we had no choice but to leave.
- 11:18We took one suitcase each.
- 11:20I didn't even say goodbye to my parents.
- 11:24Lithia and her family stayed with
- 11:26a relative for a few months.
- 11:27While they settled in New Haven,
- 11:29her husband took a job in landscaping
- 11:31to support them in Honduras.
- 11:33My husband was a professional,
- 11:34a doctor, and what does he do now?
- 11:37He had to learn to use tools.
- 11:39The changes in his body and his face and his
- 11:42hands have been Lady's voice trailed off.
- 11:45He comes home and plays with my son.
- 11:47And my son, says, Daddy,
- 11:48your hands hurt me and my husband says,
- 11:50well, yes, Look, my hands are
- 11:52hurt and my my son tells him yes.
- 11:54But don't touch me with your hands.
- 11:56You're hurting me.
- 11:58Lydia's family had applied for
- 11:59political asylum, but according to her,
- 12:01their lawyer,
- 12:01their case was complicated because
- 12:03they had overstayed their tourist visas
- 12:05because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- 12:07Their case has not yet been processed.
- 12:09When we spoke,
- 12:10we move around with the greatest caution,
- 12:12Lydia said.
- 12:13Because we're already here illegal,
- 12:15you know?
- 12:17Lydia's story exposes the impact of
- 12:20sociopolitical violence in Latin America,
- 12:22although some migrants leave their homes.
- 12:24Their home countries voluntarily,
- 12:25out of a sense of adventure or
- 12:27to seek better opportunities,
- 12:29migration often results from failure
- 12:30of the state to protect its citizens.
- 12:33In these cases,
- 12:34migration may be a life or death decision.
- 12:37State failure and violence in
- 12:38Latin America compel hundreds
- 12:39of thousands to flee each year.
- 12:43Latin American history
- 12:45is pierced by violence.
- 12:47From colonization, African enslavement,
- 12:48and indigenous genocide in the 15th or
- 12:5118th centuries to political conflicts
- 12:53and brutal dictatorships amid state
- 12:55modernization in the 19th and 20th centuries,
- 12:58and social strife arising from state
- 13:01destabilization in the contemporary period,
- 13:03each era of Latin American history
- 13:05features acts of inhumanity perpetrated
- 13:08by dominant social and political
- 13:10groups against subordinate ones.
- 13:13While this history of violence.
- 13:15Affects individuals and communities for
- 13:18historic and transgenerational trauma.
- 13:20It is the current socio political upheaval,
- 13:22including assaults and homicides,
- 13:23as well as weak social safety Nets,
- 13:26that most directly informs
- 13:28decisions to migrate.
- 13:29This new violence reflects social
- 13:32disruption and the ways that gestures
- 13:34toward democratization have failed
- 13:36to meet the needs of citizens.
- 13:40Lydia detailed the pain of thrusting her
- 13:42four year old son into a strange country.
- 13:45It's so stressful for him to speak English,
- 13:47He asks me.
- 13:48But, mommy, why can't I speak English?
- 13:50And to everyone on the street or at Walmart
- 13:52or the grocery store or the laundromat,
- 13:54he says.
- 13:55Do you speak Spanish?
- 13:56Do you speak Spanish?
- 13:57He wants to play and interact with others,
- 13:59but he can't.
- 14:01It's so difficult.
- 14:03The decision to migrate
- 14:04is fraught with danger,
- 14:05destabilization, and isolation.
- 14:06Yet the advantages of life in the
- 14:08United States often outweighs the
- 14:10struggles of migration and resettlement.
- 14:12In short,
- 14:13state failure not only drives
- 14:16translational transnational migration,
- 14:17but also sustains it.
- 14:19A state's inability or deliberate failure to
- 14:22provide adequate protection and assistance,
- 14:24as well as full citizenship rights to all,
- 14:27undermines peace and stability.
- 14:29The production and maintenance of
- 14:31an underclass in Latin America,
- 14:33stripped of civic entitlements,
- 14:35spawns a new underclass of illegals
- 14:38in the United States who serve as a
- 14:41cheap and exploitable labor force.
- 14:43But the process of migration
- 14:45itself inflicts its own harms.
- 14:47Which I will illustrate that the
- 14:49story and narrative of Caridad.
- 14:53We
- 14:56were three or four women and thirteen
- 14:58men in the group, Caridad said,
- 15:00a 34 year old woman from Peru.
- 15:02If we had to run,
- 15:03we women knew that we'd be left behind.
- 15:06Betty that spent three months traveling
- 15:08from video to the Mexican border.
- 15:10She had to pay off multiple soldiers
- 15:12and border guards to arrive safely.
- 15:14They gave us a backpack with water,
- 15:16some fruit, and some canned food.
- 15:18The water was so heavy I didn't want to
- 15:20carry it, and the canned food was awful.
- 15:22It weighed so much,
- 15:23didn't give much energy, and made us sick.
- 15:25Two of the women became very ill,
- 15:27vomiting everything They took
- 15:28in and they had to turn back.
- 15:31On the second or third day,
- 15:32I couldn't carry it all anymore and
- 15:34I almost left everything behind.
- 15:35Another Peruvian man in the group had
- 15:37to help me carry my gallon of water.
- 15:39Despite all that, I became very dizzy.
- 15:42The man took out some oranges
- 15:44and pressed them to my lips.
- 15:46He told me I needed to go to
- 15:47the river to drink some water.
- 15:48I couldn't walk,
- 15:49so he carried me on his shoulders and
- 15:52brought water from the river we had
- 15:54to hide in in the holes in the ground
- 15:56from the immigration planes overhead.
- 15:59And when Border Patrol found us,
- 16:00the man and I, man and I,
- 16:01managed to hide in some bushes,
- 16:03but they caught the other woman,
- 16:04the niece of another traveler,
- 16:05and sent her back to Mexico.
- 16:07The uncle crossed back to
- 16:09find her and try again.
- 16:10And then it was just 12 men and me.
- 16:13I tried to lead.
- 16:14I thought, if I start,
- 16:15if they start running,
- 16:16where will that leave me?
- 16:18After several more weeks of travel,
- 16:20Caridad arrived to New Haven.
- 16:23It's safer here and Peru.
- 16:24They'll shut the lights out on the bus and
- 16:26steal the necklace right off your neck.
- 16:28What happened to me gave me a huge red mark.
- 16:31Here in New Haven, you can carry
- 16:33your purse to the store without worry.
- 16:36Plus, in the summer,
- 16:37it smells like the ocean, she added.
- 16:40Caridad's story attests to the physical
- 16:42toll of migrating across the desert.
- 16:44She endured dehydration, exposure,
- 16:46and the precarity of being a
- 16:49woman in mostly groups of men.
- 16:51Caridad was lucky she arrived at
- 16:53her destination safely without
- 16:54encountering immigration authorities.
- 16:57Less,
- 16:57less fortunate migrants may make
- 16:58multiple attempts at crossing the
- 17:00border after environmental hazards and
- 17:02immigration authorities forced them back.
- 17:06Latin American migrants face dangers
- 17:07such as thievery, kidnapping,
- 17:09extortion and dehydration.
- 17:10Women are also at greater risk of rape,
- 17:14assault, trafficking and forced prostitution
- 17:17after settling in the United States.
- 17:19Many of these women experience intimate
- 17:21partner violence as their social
- 17:23positions make them vulnerable to abuse.
- 17:25Over 75% of Latin American migrant
- 17:27women living in the United States
- 17:29report histories of trauma.
- 17:31Scholars Pereira and Onelas refer to heroin
- 17:34migration experiences as painful passages.
- 17:37In their study of 281 individuals,
- 17:39they found that 29% of foreign born
- 17:42adolescents and 34% of their foreign
- 17:44born parents living in the United States
- 17:46had experienced trauma during migration.
- 17:49Of those with traumatic histories,
- 17:519% of adolescents and 21% of
- 17:53their parents were at risk for
- 17:54post traumatic stress disorder.
- 17:56Coinciding Global and local
- 17:58socio political forces,
- 17:59including economic factors,
- 18:01government structures,
- 18:02and legal violence that shape
- 18:04migration experiences,
- 18:05also affect health outcomes.
- 18:09Trauma often involves a close encounter
- 18:12with physical and violence or death.
- 18:14But trauma also encompasses the
- 18:16emotional response to such experiences,
- 18:18the psychic scars left by
- 18:20tragic and painful events.
- 18:21Trauma is therefore a clinical and
- 18:24social event in which individuals,
- 18:26subjective memories of trauma,
- 18:27shape or rupture the sense of
- 18:30coherence in their lives and may
- 18:32lead to symptoms of mental illness.
- 18:34Migrants, including voluntary migrants
- 18:36as well as refugees and asylum seekers,
- 18:38are especially susceptible
- 18:40to trauma and its aftermath.
- 18:42Migration related trauma,
- 18:43a term referring to trauma surrounding
- 18:45departure or displacement from a
- 18:47country of origin and relocation
- 18:49in a destination country,
- 18:50applies to the experience of
- 18:52many of my interlocutors.
- 18:54Here I examine the specific
- 18:55traumas that migrants encounter,
- 18:57specifically the effects of legal
- 18:59violence of immigration enforcement
- 19:00and gender based violence as
- 19:02factors and health outcomes.
- 19:05When
- 19:09I crossed the border,
- 19:10immigration authorities caught me
- 19:1119 year old, Isabelle recounts.
- 19:13I'd arrived in Arizona,
- 19:15but they took me to Texas.
- 19:17I was there for a whole week.
- 19:18Being in jail was horrible.
- 19:19There were no windows,
- 19:21no way to look outside.
- 19:22If it was night or day, I didn't know,
- 19:24and the food was terrible.
- 19:26They told me it was called Laielera,
- 19:29the icebox,
- 19:30the place where they locked me up.
- 19:32It was freezing.
- 19:33They gave us these aluminum blankets,
- 19:35which helped a bit, but not much.
- 19:37It was so cold. I got a Nosebleed.
- 19:40A lot of blood came out and
- 19:41I couldn't get it to stop.
- 19:42They just gave me some ice and some
- 19:44kind of pill to make it stop bleeding.
- 19:46There were like 30 or 40
- 19:48of us locked in the cell.
- 19:49I didn't count.
- 19:51The bathroom was disgusting,
- 19:53open in a cell just covered by a few bricks.
- 19:55It smelled awful.
- 19:56I had no freedom to move about.
- 19:59I was locked in there the whole time.
- 20:01Some of the guards would intentionally
- 20:02wake us up when we were sleeping,
- 20:04banging on the doors.
- 20:06Some just walked around the cell
- 20:08trying to catch us doing something.
- 20:11And Movena was captured by immigration
- 20:13authorities 5 different times.
- 20:15On each occasion she was booked, stripped,
- 20:18searched and deposited at the border.
- 20:21They would grab us,
- 20:22put handcuffs on us,
- 20:23and ask us to remove our shoelaces,
- 20:24belts and anything we carried.
- 20:26We had to let our hair down.
- 20:28If we wore rings or earrings,
- 20:29we also had to remove them.
- 20:31They separated the women from the men.
- 20:32They arrested so many of us From
- 20:34there we had to wait until it was
- 20:36our turn to give our information.
- 20:38They took photos of us and fingerprinted us.
- 20:40And then they would just take us back to
- 20:42our cell until they would let us leave.
- 20:44They would grab like 15 people at once
- 20:45and then just dump us at the border,
- 20:47leaving us.
- 20:49Ascencion recounted her
- 20:50imprisonment with her two children.
- 20:52It was like a refrigerator, a ylera.
- 20:54The room felt very cold.
- 20:56They would wake you up and then undress you.
- 20:58You couldn't even lie down.
- 20:59It was so crowded.
- 21:03I conducted my field work at a time when
- 21:05the system and conduct of immigration
- 21:08authorities came under intensive scrutiny.
- 21:10In the spring of 2018,
- 21:11the 0 tolerance policy against
- 21:13irregular migration imposed by the
- 21:15Trump administration cruelly separated
- 21:16thousands of migrant children from
- 21:18their parents, hundreds of whom
- 21:20have still not been reunited.
- 21:22A number of congressional
- 21:24representatives publicized evocative
- 21:25photos of detention conditions,
- 21:27including images of unbathed children
- 21:29on cots with tinfoil blankets
- 21:31surrounded by chain link cages.
- 21:33This form of judicial punishment
- 21:35lays hold on the soul.
- 21:37Isabelle experienced the physical
- 21:39discomforts of crowded conditions,
- 21:41rationing of food,
- 21:42freezing temperatures,
- 21:43and sleep deprivation.
- 21:45But incarceration also has a
- 21:47cumulative dehumanizing effect.
- 21:49Constant surveillance and the targeting
- 21:51of migrant bodies for disciplinary control
- 21:53grooms them for their subservience,
- 21:55docility,
- 21:56and compliance.
- 21:57As members of an American underclass,
- 22:01migrant bodies also serve as
- 22:02the cows of regulation,
- 22:04emphasizing the role of the
- 22:06state in defining legitimacy.
- 22:07The Salvadoran sociologist Cecilia
- 22:09Menquivar and Lacey Abrego proposed
- 22:11the category of legal violence
- 22:13to describe the punitive and
- 22:15disciplinary functions of the law
- 22:17and the way it harms migrant bodies.
- 22:19They argue that immigration policies
- 22:22purposely construct the status of illegality.
- 22:26In fact,
- 22:27US immigration policy has
- 22:29historically engaged racist,
- 22:30exclusionary practices that welcome
- 22:32migrants as cheap sources of Labor while
- 22:35withholding state protection from them.
- 22:37The 1790 Naturalization Act required
- 22:39each natural naturalized citizen of
- 22:41the United States to be a free white
- 22:43person of good moral character.
- 22:44His orientation persisted with the
- 22:46Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882,
- 22:48which banned Chinese nationals from
- 22:51from immigrating or claiming US citizenship,
- 22:53and the 1921 Emergency Quota Act,
- 22:55which set quotas for immigration from
- 22:57countries outside the Western Hemisphere.
- 23:00By contrast,
- 23:00the Immigration Act of 1864 and the
- 23:03Mexican Farm Labor Agreement of 1942,
- 23:05often known as the Bracero Agreement,
- 23:07provided for migrant labor to address US
- 23:10workers shortages on farms and in factories.
- 23:13US political leaders have continued
- 23:15to enact laws that allow US employers
- 23:18to access and exploit migrant workers
- 23:20while blocking pathways to full citizenship.
- 23:23In this way,
- 23:24immigration enforcement
- 23:25epitomizes racial capitalism.
- 23:27The subjugation of brown migrant
- 23:29bodies advances neoliberal interests,
- 23:31the Canadian activist and
- 23:33scholar Harsha Walia writes.
- 23:36US border rule reveals seamless relations
- 23:39between the carsal administration
- 23:41of genocide and slavery at home and
- 23:44imperial counterinsurgency abroad,
- 23:45domestic neoliberal policies of war,
- 23:47welfare retrenchment,
- 23:48and foreign policies of capitalist trade,
- 23:51and local and global regimes of race.
- 23:56U.S.
- 23:56policy has carefully configured the
- 23:58category of illegality as a socio
- 24:00political condition characterized by an
- 24:02unequal power relationship to the state.
- 24:04Unlike citizens and permanent residents,
- 24:05undocumented migrants cannot make
- 24:07claims to political or legal security,
- 24:09which compounds their vulnerability.
- 24:12If there were no borders,
- 24:14there would be no migration,
- 24:15just mobility,
- 24:16sociologist Nicholas de Genova writes.
- 24:19Moving from once home country to the
- 24:21United States involves separation from
- 24:23familiar social groups and structures.
- 24:25And transition and incorporation
- 24:27into the new society.
- 24:28But for many migrants,
- 24:30that latter process is incomplete.
- 24:32They are folded into the nation
- 24:34without becoming part of it and
- 24:36remain excluded and objectified.
- 24:39And
- 24:44now turn my attention to
- 24:45gender based violence,
- 24:46a particular concern for migrant women.
- 24:50One of the guides was a man about
- 24:5150 years old, Jacqueline told me.
- 24:54He said that I that I should
- 24:57stay and live with him.
- 24:58That he was going to give me everything,
- 25:01that he already had a wife,
- 25:01but he wanted to pay me to be his muher,
- 25:04his woman. I said no,
- 25:06that I had no intention of doing that.
- 25:09He pushed me to have sex with him.
- 25:11He told me if you don't accept,
- 25:13I'm going to leave you out in the dirt.
- 25:15And he said you have no one,
- 25:17you have no one here,
- 25:18and now you're in another country,
- 25:20so you can't do anything.
- 25:22I was afraid inside,
- 25:23but I told him he had no right to harm me.
- 25:25He laughed and said, Oh yeah.
- 25:28How can you prove it?
- 25:29Who do you think is going
- 25:30to look out for you?
- 25:32I answered my family that I
- 25:33have here in the United States.
- 25:36And so he said, what can your family do?
- 25:38Your family is there and you're here.
- 25:40You're in my hands.
- 25:42After that, he started treating me badly.
- 25:44He no longer paid attention to me.
- 25:46He would leave me behind
- 25:47and wouldn't wait for me.
- 25:49At one point when we were walking,
- 25:50a very big thorn like a nail or a screw
- 25:52got in my shoe and cut my cut up my foot.
- 25:55But the man was already so upset
- 25:57with me he refused to wait for me.
- 25:58I was scared that he would
- 26:00leave me lost in the desert.
- 26:02And I did get lost. Once, the guide,
- 26:04he left me and two others behind.
- 26:06And so we spent the night alone.
- 26:08I don't know if you've heard
- 26:09of those animals.
- 26:10They're like big dogs.
- 26:11They call them coyotes.
- 26:13They're huge and they eat people.
- 26:15We slept under the trees and we could
- 26:16hear the coyotes coming closer,
- 26:18shrieking and howling.
- 26:18We had no idea whether we would live.
- 26:21It was terrifying.
- 26:24Although the guy the guy never directly
- 26:27assaulted Jacqueline, his threats,
- 26:29intimidation and neglect after
- 26:30she rejected his advances rendered
- 26:32her journey far more precarious.
- 26:34Fear of rape was among the most common
- 26:36concerns for women who cross the border.
- 26:38In my interviews, I heard many variations
- 26:40of the same dread, Priscilla said.
- 26:42There were those rumors that they
- 26:44touched women, but you take that
- 26:45risk if you want a better life,
- 26:46the life you want to lead.
- 26:48It was ugly, you know, traveling as a woman,
- 26:50The men are very macho.
- 26:52I was afraid of rape.
- 26:54I thought of Coggiote would grab
- 26:55us when he was high in marijuana,
- 26:56but there were just two of us women.
- 26:58I was so afraid he would rape me.
- 27:01Although none of the women with
- 27:03whom I spoke reported being sexually
- 27:04assaulted during their crossings,
- 27:05their narratives may omit such experiences
- 27:08as result of feelings of shame or denial.
- 27:11Many, like Jacqueline,
- 27:12were harassed,
- 27:13intimidated and threatened with abandonment.
- 27:16And these fears are not unfounded.
- 27:18Up to 90% of women migrants suffer
- 27:21sexual violence.
- 27:22Likewise,
- 27:22threats of leaving women behind to cope alone
- 27:25in the desert have a ghastly basis in fact.
- 27:28In their study of bodies recovered
- 27:30along the migrant trail,
- 27:32the Binational Migration Institute
- 27:33found that women had 2.87 times greater
- 27:37odds of dying of exposure than men.
- 27:40The particular plight of women
- 27:42migrants often receives less attention
- 27:44and scholarly work on migration,
- 27:45perhaps because most individuals
- 27:47apprehended at the border are single men.
- 27:50Women's choices to migrate intentionally
- 27:52facing the risks of rape and
- 27:54abandonment highlight their agency.
- 27:56All my interlocutors recognize the risks.
- 27:58They undertook careful evaluations of
- 27:59their past and their possible future,
- 28:01and their decision to engage in
- 28:03the violent process of migration.
- 28:05So how should we understand the
- 28:07role of threatened violence and
- 28:08the gender indifferential and risk?
- 28:10Gender based violence is often invisible.
- 28:12Even penetrative sexual assault
- 28:14rarely leaves marks in the body.
- 28:16Despite the absence of visible scars,
- 28:18such violence persists into the
- 28:20futures of those who experience it.
- 28:22The anthropologist Carolyn Nordstrom notes
- 28:24that these forms of violence have a tomorrow,
- 28:26leaving behind shattered cells,
- 28:29confidences,
- 28:29futures.
- 28:30The most common trauma symptom reported
- 28:32by interlocutors was the harboring of
- 28:34strong negative beliefs about the world,
- 28:37such as no one can be trusted and
- 28:39the world is completely dangerous.
- 28:41These enduring attitudes shape
- 28:42the ways women relate to others
- 28:44and to their new environment.
- 28:48The nature of these symptoms
- 28:50underscores the limitations of clinical
- 28:52instruments for assessing trauma.
- 28:53The tool I used, the PTSD Checklist
- 28:56for the DSM5 or the P CL5,
- 28:58asked about experiences of sexual
- 29:00violence and threats of sexual
- 29:01violence separately allowing me to
- 29:03account for the common experience
- 29:05of fear of potential assault.
- 29:06But my index of trauma symptoms
- 29:08did not fully capture the warlike
- 29:11mistrust of others and lingering
- 29:13fear many of my interlocutors carry.
- 29:15After fearing sexual assault at the
- 29:17hands of her poggieros or smugglers
- 29:19confronting theft and enduring 2 months
- 29:21of immigration detention and with,
- 29:23Anna described A psychological
- 29:25state akin to shell shock.
- 29:27Some of these things hurt too much.
- 29:30You can never fully recover.
- 29:31I'm with, Anna said.
- 29:32When I first got here,
- 29:34it was different, difficult.
- 29:37Why couldn't I just lead a happy life?
- 29:39I was filled with negativity.
- 29:41Everything bothered me.
- 29:43She paused before continuing.
- 29:45From there,
- 29:46you decide to pull away from people.
- 29:48I stopped talking with my
- 29:49cousins and my friends at work.
- 29:51It's like no one can
- 29:53understand what happened.
- 29:55Such patterns of avoidance and mood
- 29:57change are characteristic of PTSD.
- 29:59Yet I'm within a score on the
- 30:01P CL5 was a two out of 80.
- 30:03The instrument failed to record her
- 30:05psychological sensitivity in the way
- 30:07that deep ethnographic engagement did.
- 30:08After my semistructured
- 30:09interview with Alamudena,
- 30:11we spoke about services that would
- 30:13benefit her and the power of being heard.
- 30:16Humanity needs to know these stories, right?
- 30:18About us immigrant women.
- 30:19Her tone became urgent.
- 30:21People do not know.
- 30:23It is honestly incredible that
- 30:25this is happening in humanity.
- 30:27Why build the walls, right?
- 30:28Or the borders?
- 30:29Without these barriers,
- 30:30so many people would not expose
- 30:32their lives because so many people
- 30:34have died right there in the desert.
- 30:36Why not just give us a permit
- 30:37so you can let us into work?
- 30:41And Lavanna said that I was the
- 30:42first person she had told about
- 30:44her experiences of near rape.
- 30:45The vulnerability and intimacy surrounding
- 30:47gender based violence and the fear of
- 30:50not being believed fosters isolation,
- 30:51as on Lavanna acknowledges.
- 30:53As I heard such stories,
- 30:55my ethnographic engagement often
- 30:56took the form of care work,
- 30:58turning my tuning my attention to the
- 31:00intimate needs of my interlocutors.
- 31:02Feminist anthropologists have commented
- 31:03on the profound care work they undertake
- 31:06with women survivors of sexual violence.
- 31:08Ethnographic research requires dedication
- 31:10to and solidarity with communities.
- 31:12In consequence,
- 31:13anthropologists often engage
- 31:15in translational aid,
- 31:16engaging their social capital as
- 31:18wellconnected academics to persuade
- 31:20those in power to understand and act
- 31:23on the needs of their interlocutors.
- 31:25As a medical student and ethnographer
- 31:27trained in psychoeducation
- 31:28and mental health first aid,
- 31:29as well as a Spanish speaker,
- 31:30often found myself providing
- 31:32psychological support and helping
- 31:34connect women with clinical resources.
- 31:36When mental health concerns
- 31:37exceeded my capacity,
- 31:38I connected women with mental health support.
- 31:40When they confronted deprivation or
- 31:42when they're isolation prevented
- 31:43them from fulfilling their needs,
- 31:44I facilitated social services like
- 31:47mutual aid and nutritional support.
- 31:49In some cases, I and my fatherinlaw,
- 31:52who works for a nonprofit organization
- 31:53engaged in social services for
- 31:55Latinx communities in Connecticut,
- 31:57delivered boxes of donated
- 31:58food to women and experiencing
- 32:00intense socioeconomic stress.
- 32:03And yet I found myself in awe of these women,
- 32:06who, despite immense economic
- 32:08adversity and limited social support,
- 32:10seemed astonishingly okay despite
- 32:13such harrowing, traumatic history.
- 32:15And as a mother myself,
- 32:17a Latino mother who found myself
- 32:19raising a young child challenging,
- 32:21even with a dual income partnership
- 32:23and familiar support with childcare,
- 32:25I was humbled by the mental fortitude these
- 32:28women exhibited comparing my situation.
- 32:30With theirs prompted me to reflect on my
- 32:34conventional understanding of resilience.
- 32:36The definitions vary.
- 32:37Resilience generally refers to
- 32:39engaging resources in the face
- 32:41of adversity to achieve goals.
- 32:43Unlike the concepts of positive
- 32:45psychology and competence,
- 32:46resilience considers social
- 32:47environment as a factor influencing
- 32:49an individual's ability to adapt
- 32:51to difficult life circumstances.
- 32:53Resilience and its companion concept,
- 32:55flourishing emphasize healthy functioning.
- 32:57Or at least an absence of psychopathology.
- 33:01These terms often imply wellbeing
- 33:03and positive or protective factors,
- 33:06which lend themselves to measurement
- 33:07using pre and post intervention
- 33:09assessments in behavioral health research.
- 33:11Nearly all scholars of resilience in
- 33:13clinical medicine, public health,
- 33:15and related social sciences agree
- 33:17that resilience should be optimized
- 33:19and seek to pinpoint it in ways
- 33:21that can be cultivated.
- 33:22This interpretation of resilience
- 33:24fixes the concept as a static
- 33:26characteristic akin to toughness or grit.
- 33:28Rather than as a process of rational action,
- 33:31a more nuanced conceptualization of
- 33:33resilience, use it as a trajectory,
- 33:35a process of adaptation or sustained,
- 33:36healthy adjustment over time.
- 33:38Interpretations of trauma and
- 33:40marginalization that recognize individual
- 33:42identity and agency within social,
- 33:45political and its cultural circumstances
- 33:47allow consideration of mental health
- 33:49responses that are not uniformly negative.
- 33:52When I discussed resilience and its relevance
- 33:54to this project with my research assistants,
- 33:56several cringed.
- 33:57At La Casa La Casa Cultura,
- 34:00the Latina Cultural Center at Yale,
- 34:01we talk a lot about resilience,
- 34:03but it's like it's like something white
- 34:05people think we have for making it here,
- 34:08one of my students commented.
- 34:09But that's not it at all.
- 34:11I mean,
- 34:12we're resilient because we have to be.
- 34:15We joked that the response to,
- 34:17wow,
- 34:17you're so resilient should be thanks.
- 34:19It was between that and dropping
- 34:22out or dying.
- 34:23Series of resilience tend not
- 34:24to conceptualize it as a mode
- 34:26of resistance to oppression,
- 34:28but my interlocutors reveal that
- 34:30that is exactly the dynamic at work.
- 34:32Resilience is not an ability or a choice.
- 34:35It is a conditioned response to
- 34:37the multiple forms of violence
- 34:38they encounter through racism,
- 34:40sexism, immigration enforcement,
- 34:42and economic inequality.
- 34:44In recognition of this reality,
- 34:46I propose the term imperative
- 34:48resilience to describe the
- 34:49strategies women employ cognitively,
- 34:51emotionally,
- 34:51and socially.
- 34:52To get by in the face of overlapping
- 34:55adversities,
- 34:59Priscilla, for example,
- 35:00told me that she could not afford to
- 35:02let her emotional responses interfere
- 35:03with her ability to handle stress.
- 35:05Instead, she focuses on problem solving.
- 35:08Let's say I do not have
- 35:10something I should For example,
- 35:12this month I only had half the money
- 35:14I need to play the electric bill.
- 35:15I couldn't make that bill this month,
- 35:16so next month I'm going to have to
- 35:17work more hours to cover it, cover it.
- 35:19If I get angry about it,
- 35:20things will just get worse.
- 35:22It won't solve anything.
- 35:23So I just try to calm down and
- 35:25look for solutions to be more
- 35:27economical and more organized.
- 35:28Christina seemed almost puzzled by my
- 35:30questions about how she bounces back
- 35:32from stress or other difficulties in life.
- 35:35I try to keep things simple,
- 35:36she responded.
- 35:37If I complicate things,
- 35:38I'm not going to solve anything at all.
- 35:40If I complicate things,
- 35:40I get home in a bad mood and
- 35:42I take it out of my children.
- 35:44But they are my responsibility.
- 35:45I have to be the responsible one.
- 35:48I get angry and yell and scream.
- 35:49To let off steam does nothing in the end.
- 35:52Quite the opposite makes things worse.
- 35:54I just have to calm down
- 35:55and look for solutions.
- 35:56I have to accept and endure Themes
- 35:59of acceptance and endurance and the
- 36:01desire to shield children from stress
- 36:03echoed throughout my interviews.
- 36:05Women felt it was their responsibility
- 36:07to minimize their affective responses
- 36:09to difficult circumstances to preserve
- 36:11the emotional and physical health of
- 36:13their children and their pregnancies.
- 36:17At first glance, the coping strategies
- 36:19employed by Priscilla might be seen as
- 36:21maladaptive and described clinically as
- 36:23emotional numbing and intellectualization,
- 36:25repression, cognitive avoidance Strategies of
- 36:28avoidance coping have been associated with
- 36:30greater life stress and depressive symptoms.
- 36:33But women like Priscilla also
- 36:35employ positive coping strategies,
- 36:36including problem solving,
- 36:38benefit finding, altruism,
- 36:40and personal and spiritual growth,
- 36:42although Priscilla might suppress
- 36:44her emotional reactions to stress.
- 36:46She does so out of concern for her children.
- 36:48She focuses on practice,
- 36:50practical solutions to her challenges
- 36:52like adjusting her budget and work hours.
- 36:54We can characterize these strategies
- 36:57for survival as imperative resilience.
- 36:59This is a performance that becomes
- 37:01actualized through practice.
- 37:03The necessity of suppressing
- 37:04negative emotions,
- 37:05emphasizing the positive and
- 37:07strategic problem solving,
- 37:08reflects not an inherent grit or toughness,
- 37:10nor special access to social
- 37:13material resources.
- 37:14Rather,
- 37:14it arises as a form of opposition
- 37:17to social injustice,
- 37:18a way of summoning personal and social
- 37:21capacity to fill the voids left by society.
- 37:27The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the
- 37:29deep fractures in our social safety net.
- 37:32Women like those in my study
- 37:34have been especially vulnerable
- 37:35to the effects of COVID-19.
- 37:37The height of the pandemic.
- 37:38Many who held low wage essential
- 37:39jobs were unable to work from
- 37:41home and were at risk of exposure
- 37:43to the virus in the workplace.
- 37:45Several lost their jobs and were barred,
- 37:47but were barred from collecting
- 37:48unemployment relief or the
- 37:50stimulus payments offered through
- 37:51the Coronavirus Aid Relief and
- 37:53Economic Security or CARES Act.
- 37:54As a result,
- 37:55they were compelled to engage
- 37:56in precarious work arrangements
- 37:57and many lacked the financial
- 37:59resources to stock up on food and
- 38:01household supplies and made more
- 38:02frequent trips to stores and that
- 38:04increase their risk of exposure.
- 38:06In addition, given lack of healthcare access,
- 38:08undocumented migrants were also
- 38:09less likely to receive prompt
- 38:12evaluation of symptoms of COVID-19.
- 38:14And in the intervening years,
- 38:16even though testing for COVID-19
- 38:17has largely remained free,
- 38:19evaluating,
- 38:19evaluation and treatment have not been.
- 38:22And those costs have deterred
- 38:23low income undocumented migrants
- 38:25from seeking necessary care and
- 38:26increasing their risk of locality.
- 38:30I used to work at Amazon scanning products,
- 38:33says Antoinetta,
- 38:33a 23 year old from the Dominican Republic.
- 38:36I liked the work, but it was long,
- 38:3711 or 12 hours at a time.
- 38:39I had to quit my job when Corona
- 38:41when I caught the Coronavirus there,
- 38:43I got it there and I haven't gone back.
- 38:44I'm too afraid,
- 38:45especially now that I'm pregnant.
- 38:47I worry something will happen to me again.
- 38:50Antoinetta contracted COVID-19 in
- 38:51May 2020 at an Amazon distribution
- 38:53warehouse in North Haven,
- 38:54CT Just one month later,
- 38:57allegations of the company's
- 38:58disregard for employee safety
- 39:00exploded throughout the news media.
- 39:01Warehouse workers criticize
- 39:03Amazon for failure to implement
- 39:05physical distancing protocols,
- 39:06noting that the wearable devices
- 39:08used to signal proximity of less
- 39:09than 6 feet to other employees were
- 39:12useless because it was impossible
- 39:13for workers to keep 6 feet apart.
- 39:15Some employees showed up to work
- 39:17despite COVID-19 concerns or symptoms.
- 39:18Out of fear of losing their jobs,
- 39:20many workers stated that they did not
- 39:22receive enough time to properly wash
- 39:24their hands and disinfect workstations.
- 39:26And they attested to delays or nonpayment,
- 39:28of compensation for quarantine or isolation,
- 39:30following exposure or confirmed infection.
- 39:34It was like a week.
- 39:34No, two weeks, I should say.
- 39:36My whole body ached.
- 39:37I couldn't even get out of bed.
- 39:39I had no sense of taste, no sense of smell.
- 39:41I couldn't eat much.
- 39:42Sometimes I felt like I couldn't breathe.
- 39:44But I never went to the hospital.
- 39:46I only went to get tested.
- 39:47I was scared.
- 39:48I just went out to get tested and I can't.
- 39:51And I went straight home.
- 39:52If they got really bad,
- 39:53they said I could go to the emergency
- 39:54room or I could call and they
- 39:56would send an ambulance for me.
- 39:57But I was. I was really scared.
- 39:59Antoinette's fears were twofold.
- 40:01First,
- 40:01she feared that if she had to
- 40:03be admitted to the hospital,
- 40:04her condition could worsen.
- 40:05Her cousin in the Dominican Republic,
- 40:07just 40 years old,
- 40:08had died in a hospital that
- 40:10had exceeded its capacity.
- 40:12They did what they could and she told me,
- 40:13but everything had collapsed
- 40:15because so many people had the
- 40:17coronavirus and my cousin just died.
- 40:18Antoinette feared a similar fate.
- 40:21Second,
- 40:21she worried that hospitalization
- 40:23would incur insurmountable debt.
- 40:24Although she had medical coverage
- 40:26through Husky state Medicaid
- 40:27after acquiring US residency
- 40:29through her citizen husband,
- 40:31she had been scarred by the cost
- 40:32of treatment when dizzy spells from
- 40:34dehydration and overwork at Amazon
- 40:35had landed her in the emergency room
- 40:37prior to the enlistment of her Medicaid.
- 40:39I got a big bill at Yale, she tells me.
- 40:42It's still there.
- 40:43I have to agree to pay it.
- 40:44Little by little,
- 40:45it just added up.
- 40:49And to another experience, along with
- 40:50those of many my other interlocutors,
- 40:52point to necessary policy reforms.
- 40:54First, we need universal healthcare
- 40:56for our migrant communities.
- 40:57That includes adequate behavioral
- 40:59and mental health services.
- 41:00In Connecticut, recent legislation has
- 41:02expanded Husky to children up to age 12,
- 41:04and a proposed bill would
- 41:06expand that to age 26.
- 41:07But still, many will remain uninsured.
- 41:10Even if that passes, we can do better.
- 41:13Second, we need provisions for basic
- 41:15needs like food, housing, diapers.
- 41:16Whether through universal basic
- 41:18income or the expansion of services
- 41:21like staff and TANF to noncitizens.
- 41:23Third, we need a clear and accessible
- 41:25pathway to lawful migration.
- 41:27Updating the migration registry,
- 41:28which has not been touched in
- 41:3040 years and has previously
- 41:32received bipartisan support,
- 41:33would adjust the status of an estimated
- 41:358 million undocumented residents.
- 41:40Monarch butterflies with just a three
- 41:42to four inch wingspan travel 50 to 100
- 41:44miles a day during their migration.
- 41:46Slapping their wings 5 to 12 times
- 41:48per second as the day is shorten
- 41:50and the temperatures drop there.
- 41:51In their breeding areas across
- 41:53the United States and Canada,
- 41:54the primary source of food,
- 41:56milkweed, disappears.
- 41:56The butterflies over winter in
- 41:58the mountains of central Mexico,
- 42:01shielded by oyami fir trees,
- 42:03whose microclimate protects
- 42:04them from extreme temperatures.
- 42:06As the days lengthen and the
- 42:08temperatures rise, however,
- 42:09this climate becomes inhospitable,
- 42:11prompting them to leave their roosting sites.
- 42:13Mated. Female monarchs leave first.
- 42:16Blazing a trail that the next three
- 42:18to four generations will follow.
- 42:19These long and exhausting migrations
- 42:21are essential to the breeding
- 42:23success of the monarchs.
- 42:24Their resilience,
- 42:25like that of my interlocutors,
- 42:26is a necessity,
- 42:27a means of survival in a
- 42:29harsh and everchanging world.
- 42:31I understand the resilience of
- 42:33Latin American migrant women as a
- 42:35resistance to structural violence.
- 42:37Instead of ascribing this
- 42:38resilience to social environment,
- 42:40I consider it a form of psychosocial
- 42:42rebellion against oppressive structures.
- 42:44Women summon religious beliefs,
- 42:46self conceptions of strength and
- 42:48altruistic concerns for their
- 42:50families to fight against social
- 42:52and economic subjugation to
- 42:53Segura Delante or press onward.
- 42:55And to summarize these points,
- 42:56I want to share with you a brief animation
- 42:59and hopefully the volume will work.
- 43:02When the weather turns and the milkweed
- 43:04Wilts, monarch butterflies lift their wings
- 43:07and embark on a perilous migration from the
- 43:09United States to Mexico in search of nectar.
- 43:12In the face of deforestation and climate
- 43:15change, they journey for their survival
- 43:17and for the survival of their offspring.
- 43:20There's could be a story of suffering,
- 43:22but I see it as one of power and persistence.
- 43:27Like the monarchs,
- 43:28mothers who migrate from Latin America to
- 43:31the United States face extreme obstacles.
- 43:33They craft their futures and
- 43:35the futures of their children,
- 43:36despite devastating inequality,
- 43:38harmful politics and a global pandemic.
- 43:42They too can be seen as sufferers.
- 43:45Instead, I see resistance.
- 43:48I call this imperative resilience,
- 43:50a strategic approach to push onward.
- 43:53Or Segura de Lante.
- 43:55Imperative resilience Sounds
- 43:57like Adelina telling me.
- 43:59Whenever something seems stressful,
- 44:01I just don't think about it.
- 44:03I'm just like there's going to
- 44:04be another day when you can make
- 44:06it better or Elvira explaining.
- 44:08You just have to accept it and adapt.
- 44:10Create something nice out of him so
- 44:13you don't have to focus on the bad.
- 44:15It looks like handpicked partnerships
- 44:17that provide the support mothers
- 44:19need to fulfill their family's goals.
- 44:22It feels like a spark When that
- 44:24moment of prayer or spiritual
- 44:26song carries a message from God,
- 44:28It echoes through the wisdom passed
- 44:30on by mothers and grandmothers to
- 44:32help their daughters dream bigger.
- 44:35But just like a cold snap shocks
- 44:38the monarchs.
- 44:38COVID-19 pandemic devastated migrant mothers.
- 44:42These women lost work and shuddered
- 44:44themselves at home to protect their children.
- 44:47They watched loved ones contract
- 44:49the virus and die.
- 44:51As Jacqueline puts it, it was like a trauma.
- 44:54I was afraid of what would happen
- 44:55if I got sick for three months,
- 44:58I didn't go out at all.
- 44:59We kept hearing about people dying.
- 45:03Women like Jacqueline need
- 45:04the essentials like food,
- 45:06diapers and healthcare.
- 45:08They need protection against domestic
- 45:10violence and a clear pathway to citizenship.
- 45:13Policymakers must build a more
- 45:15nurturing home for these migrant women.
- 45:18In New Haven, CT,
- 45:20a longtime refuge for migrants,
- 45:22children build monarch way stations
- 45:24where the butterflies refuel
- 45:25during their long migration.
- 45:27Like the monarchs,
- 45:28we do not have to force migrant
- 45:30women to suffer or starve.
- 45:32We can work together to create
- 45:34a more nourishing and equitable
- 45:35home for our neighbors.
- 45:48So in this conversation,
- 45:49I have attempted to consolidate
- 45:51hundreds of hours of conversations I
- 45:52had with women clinicians and community
- 45:54leaders to highlight the global and
- 45:56local forces that constrain women's
- 45:58life opportunities and how they push
- 46:00against those to meet their goals
- 46:02and the goals of their families.
- 46:03I want to emphasize a few points.
- 46:06First, the disintegration of
- 46:07democratic institutions in Latin
- 46:09America breeds mistrust and fear
- 46:11and forces women to migrate,
- 46:13which then entails its own experiences
- 46:15of trauma, migration related trauma.
- 46:17Second, despite these harrowing traumas,
- 46:20migration related trauma may not always
- 46:22register or cross clinical thresholds on
- 46:25conventional PTSD screening instruments,
- 46:26but may still cause a ruptured
- 46:28sense of self that affects how they
- 46:30engage with the world around them,
- 46:32which may still merit clinical intervention.
- 46:353rd Conventional public and
- 46:37mental health approaches may
- 46:42may view a few symptoms or the absence
- 46:44of symptoms to the multiple overlapping
- 46:46oppressions of legal violence,
- 46:47racism and gender based violence
- 46:50as evidence of resilience,
- 46:52but I argue that this is a necessary
- 46:55conditioned response or resistance to
- 46:57these multiple forms of oppression.
- 47:014th The term that I proposed to
- 47:03describe this is imperative resilience
- 47:04as it describes the cognitive, social,
- 47:06and emotional strategies women used to
- 47:08get by in the day-to-day to Segura,
- 47:11Delante, or press onward.
- 47:135TH the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately
- 47:16impact racially oppressed groups,
- 47:18particularly Latinx migrants,
- 47:19due to their inability to benefit from
- 47:22social support programs and the extra
- 47:24toll the virus claimed on Latinx bodies.
- 47:27Finally, no woman or family.
- 47:29Should be forced to rely on their
- 47:32intrinsic abilities to survive and build a
- 47:34life for themselves in a hostile environment.
- 47:36Migrant families deserve to be supported
- 47:38and to have enough capacity to grow their
- 47:41selfworth and invest in their dreams.
- 47:43Policy reforms like universal healthcare,
- 47:45basic income and housing support,
- 47:47and pathways to legal immigration
- 47:48can make this a reality.
- 47:52This is the information for my book.
- 47:56My disclosure is that I am the author,
- 47:58so I do receive royalties on it.
- 48:01And last, I just wanted to share this
- 48:03photo of me and my favorite mural
- 48:05in the Fairhaven neighborhood which
- 48:07says we RISE by Lifting others or
- 48:09Nos Elevamos Fonlevamos Savotros.
- 48:10And these are the information for
- 48:14the sign out and feedback. Yes.
- 48:18And I very much look forward to
- 48:20your feedback and discussion.
- 48:21Thank you.
- 48:29That's quite a performance.
- 48:36Thank you so much.
- 48:37Just for your talk today.
- 48:39You know there was of course I'm
- 48:41curious to know if folks have
- 48:43questions and while you sort of
- 48:44percolate on that a little bit,
- 48:46I was two things came to mind.
- 48:48You talked about the conditions that groom.
- 48:52Women and migrants to sort of be more.
- 48:56Thank you.
- 48:58So I've never really it made total sense,
- 49:02but I've never thought of it in that way.
- 49:04And so I was just curious if you
- 49:05could speak a little bit more to
- 49:06that and maybe the impacts of that.
- 49:08Yeah.
- 49:10So the conditions that I was
- 49:12specifically referring to are the
- 49:14conditions of violence and surveillance.
- 49:17So in order to be able to get here,
- 49:19you have to recognize that in some way
- 49:22you're you're jeopardizing your status and
- 49:25sacrificing your recognition as a citizen.
- 49:28And I say recognizing
- 49:29your status as a citizen.
- 49:31But I'm also talking about how in some
- 49:33ways you have also recognized that your
- 49:35home country has failed you as a citizen,
- 49:38but you're acknowledging that.
- 49:40You're you're compromising what you
- 49:42have as some legal recognition and
- 49:44you're subjecting yourself to a carceral
- 49:47condition by which you are going to be
- 49:49surveilled by immigration authorities.
- 49:51Or at least you're you are putting
- 49:53yourself at risk of being subjected
- 49:54for people who cross the border.
- 49:56Many will encounter immigration
- 49:58authorities at some point in that crossing.
- 50:00Whether they are actually picked up
- 50:02and detained is a different story,
- 50:04but that process of being surveilled
- 50:07and or being detained.
- 50:09Is grooming them from saying
- 50:10like I am going to lay low,
- 50:12I am not going to be exploited,
- 50:13I'm not going to raise issues
- 50:14with my employer,
- 50:15I am going to like follow the system and
- 50:18that's how we have this kind of like.
- 50:20You know, you know,
- 50:21we have a system right now by which
- 50:24undocumented folks pay more into the
- 50:26tax system and receive none of the benefits.
- 50:29But it's it's exactly,
- 50:30exactly against the tropes
- 50:31that people think of,
- 50:33like people coming here and
- 50:34benefiting from everything.
- 50:35So and this is,
- 50:36this is the way that immigration
- 50:38enforcement has worked as a racial
- 50:40capitalist structure to be able to exploit,
- 50:42exploit migrant labor.
- 50:43The other condition of is is these,
- 50:46these traumatic experiences,
- 50:47so the actual conditions of
- 50:48violence that people, people incur.
- 50:50Even if somebody comes and
- 50:51they overstay their visa,
- 50:53you know,
- 50:53women talk to me about being worried that
- 50:55if they traveled with the child that
- 50:56their child was going to be kidnapped.
- 50:58Or that if they,
- 50:59you know,
- 50:59came and they were overstaying their visa,
- 51:01that that there were going to be
- 51:03some kind of altercation with with
- 51:05folks during immigration when they
- 51:06were just coming into this country.
- 51:08Or experiences of racism or things like that.
- 51:11Genderbased violence more broadly,
- 51:13all these are experiences of
- 51:15violence and the accumulation of
- 51:16trauma that people are subjected
- 51:18to repeat victimization that.
- 51:20Mission people to basically
- 51:22lay low and and not not cause,
- 51:25not rock the boat so to speak as
- 51:27they live here as undocumented folks,
- 51:30particularly as women.
- 51:34Any questions that folks have?
- 51:36I have a million but
- 51:44first of all thank you so much.
- 51:45This is just wonderful work and
- 51:47can't wait to read your book.
- 51:49And congratulations. Thank you.
- 51:51I also have a million questions,
- 51:52but a couple that come to mind.
- 51:54You, you mentioned some women from the
- 51:57from Honduras if I remember in Mexico.
- 52:00Can you say a little bit about the
- 52:02geographic representation and what
- 52:04commonalities or differences along the way?
- 52:06And it also it makes me think that
- 52:08all the women you spoke about
- 52:10of course are Spanish speaking,
- 52:11what about migrants or immigration from
- 52:14other? Not the Spanish speaking countries.
- 52:16Anything that you can say about that?
- 52:17Again, there's many questions,
- 52:19but the the geographic representation
- 52:20would be interesting one.
- 52:22Thank you.
- 52:22Thank you. Yes,
- 52:23now that's a really wonderful question.
- 52:24I kind of skipped over like the general
- 52:27demographics to dive into stories,
- 52:28but basically I had women from
- 52:30a broad range of of countries.
- 52:33I would say that the highest
- 52:35representation of countries on
- 52:36that were included were Mexico,
- 52:38Guatemala and Ecuador,
- 52:41a which is pretty representative
- 52:42of the New Haven area.
- 52:44I also had a number of folks who
- 52:47were from Puerto Rico as well
- 52:49which I included in my study.
- 52:50I in when I was when I was deciding
- 52:52who to include in the study.
- 52:54I basically anyone who was I
- 52:56identified as having migrated from
- 52:58Latin America in in their lifetime
- 53:00and I let people define that.
- 53:02So I that included even having people
- 53:05who identified from the from the
- 53:08Caribbean that were not necessarily
- 53:10like you know from Jamaica or from
- 53:12Haiti and were English speaking but.
- 53:14But pretty much the vast majority
- 53:17of my interlocutors were primarily
- 53:19Spanish speaking.
- 53:20I think I had maybe three who preferred
- 53:23to speak English or you know,
- 53:25we did a mix of English and Spanish,
- 53:27depending on preference and in terms
- 53:30of kind of differences and experiences.
- 53:33It was. It was really variable.
- 53:34You know, I kind of expected that,
- 53:36you know,
- 53:36that folks from South America
- 53:38perhaps would be more likely to
- 53:39have come through visa overstaying,
- 53:41whereas people who are, you know,
- 53:43more geographically proximal to the
- 53:44border would have border crossed.
- 53:46But that actually wasn't the case.
- 53:48And I was also very surprised to
- 53:49see the the number of people who had
- 53:52actually physically crossed the border.
- 53:53I'd also predicted that being
- 53:55in Connecticut that there would
- 53:57have been fewer people who had
- 53:59actually crossed the border.
- 54:00But it was actually, it was about 5050.
- 54:03About half people,
- 54:04half the people who I spoke with had
- 54:06crossed the border and about half
- 54:07had had overstayed a tourist visa.
- 54:10I would say that in terms of,
- 54:11you know,
- 54:12comfort with English and also the
- 54:16the degree of social engagement
- 54:19and versus isolation.
- 54:21Folks who were from the Caribbean,
- 54:23I noticed tended to have more
- 54:25family already here and kind of
- 54:28established social relationships.
- 54:29Whereas I noticed that, you know,
- 54:30generally from, you know,
- 54:32other areas in Latin America,
- 54:34they were more likely to be more
- 54:36socially isolated and to have fewer
- 54:39kind of established connections here.
- 54:41But that's, you know,
- 54:42broader generalizations,
- 54:43individual cases varied and yeah,
- 54:47that's that's basically basically the case.
- 54:55That was beautiful. That was. And
- 54:56the animation and the
- 54:58metaphor for the monarch,
- 54:59it's it's really well done,
- 55:00just really beautiful work.
- 55:01And the quotes are so powerful.
- 55:03And I just wondered, those human
- 55:06stories can really resonate with people.
- 55:08I'm just wondering to what extent
- 55:10you connected with policymakers,
- 55:11is anyone supporting you in this work?
- 55:14Because I feel like these real human
- 55:16stories can make such a such a difference.
- 55:18Thank you so much for asking that.
- 55:19And I think it's a really important point.
- 55:21So basically I have tried to jump in
- 55:23at any opportunity that I have found
- 55:26where an issue has been relevant
- 55:29from when the New Haven City Board of
- 55:32Alders was talking about declaring
- 55:33racism as a public health issue.
- 55:35You know, I kind of collaborated
- 55:36with some of my interlocutors to
- 55:37talk about their experiences of
- 55:38racism and how it applied here.
- 55:40And actually, you know,
- 55:42arguing that, you know,
- 55:43racism is an intersectional issue that
- 55:45particularly affects migrants and how,
- 55:47you know, we need to kind of have.
- 55:48Of broader access to healthcare
- 55:50and you know basic social services.
- 55:53I'm using some of their experiences
- 55:56to to narrate.
- 55:57I've been involved with the Husky
- 55:59for immigrants movement in terms of
- 56:01kind of expanding Husky to you know
- 56:03broader ages of populations here.
- 56:04I also when you know with everything
- 56:06that had been going on with COVID I
- 56:08was involved in kind of writing a
- 56:10lot of policy memos talking about
- 56:12how to increase access for.
- 56:14For vaccination to undocumented
- 56:16migrant populations particularly but
- 56:19also Spanish speaking populations and
- 56:22submitted that to a lot of different folks.
- 56:26So I I do my best and I always welcome
- 56:30collaboration and you know folks
- 56:31who have relationships or existing
- 56:33connections or ideas on how to kind
- 56:35of use these different points as
- 56:37leverage as much as I can when I,
- 56:40when I have you know existing points
- 56:41of contact with my interlocutors,
- 56:43I really like to.
- 56:44Have their feedback and input.
- 56:45If I if they're their narrative
- 56:47is going to be part of testimony
- 56:48that I give or you know, if I am,
- 56:50you know speaking with a policy
- 56:52maker and you know,
- 56:53I think that their story is salient.
- 56:55It's not always possible because
- 56:56sometimes folks numbers have changed or
- 56:58if I haven't been in touch with them for,
- 56:59you know like a year and a half.
- 57:00It's a little bit hard.
- 57:01But you know,
- 57:02I always said at the end of every
- 57:05interview I always asked women,
- 57:06what do you want to come from this?
- 57:08And I always, you know.
- 57:10I I always keep that in mind
- 57:12and bear that with me, you know,
- 57:15thinking about what women said and you know,
- 57:16I I share the experience of what I'm with,
- 57:18Anna said.
- 57:19You know,
- 57:19saying like people need to hear our stories.
- 57:21People need to know what's going on,
- 57:22cause a lot of people are not aware
- 57:24and you know really are relying on
- 57:26kind of gross stereotypes thinking
- 57:27about what what is happening rather
- 57:29than kind of the grounded stories.
- 57:34I thank you so much for sharing.
- 57:35Those are incredible stories.
- 57:39I was really struck by, on one hand,
- 57:43how how powerful these narratives
- 57:44were and yet how the the inability
- 57:47of our assessments to capture that.
- 57:51And so I was wondering what suggestions
- 57:54or reflections you have on how we
- 57:56can make our tools more robust to
- 57:59really capture the experiences that
- 58:01these individuals have and all the
- 58:04other other possible experiences
- 58:05were missing out out there.
- 58:08I love that question and I think
- 58:10it's something that you know,
- 58:11anthropologists and global health,
- 58:12global mental health people have been
- 58:14you know reckoning with for like years.
- 58:16And it's so it's such a delicate
- 58:19balance between trying to you know
- 58:21capture volume and and you know triaging
- 58:24people who with the most urgent needs
- 58:27and also being able to appreciate
- 58:29kind of the depth and it's it is.
- 58:31I don't have the perfect answer but
- 58:34the things that I would offer would.
- 58:36To be always curious and and wanting
- 58:38to know more because you know if I,
- 58:41if I give the example some from
- 58:43some of my interlocutors, you know,
- 58:44if I just stopped and said that they
- 58:46didn't meet a clinical threshold
- 58:47and then they don't you know,
- 58:48merit services like that,
- 58:49you know that they're not clinically
- 58:51at risk or they're not,
- 58:53you know they don't qualify.
- 58:55That doesn't necessarily mean
- 58:56that somebody wouldn't benefit.
- 58:57And if you ask you know somebody
- 59:00further to kind of like put things
- 59:02in their own words.
- 59:03The story changes,
- 59:04like the narrative changes entirely.
- 59:06And this also gets into kind of like,
- 59:08you know,
- 59:08a lot of these instruments were designed by,
- 59:10you know, like Western, you know,
- 59:14Eurocentric, America centric.
- 59:16Folks who,
- 59:16you know are using a language
- 59:17that is very individualistic,
- 59:19not thinking about the the breadth,
- 59:21the lifespan, the collective.
- 59:22And it it proposes a lot of challenges for
- 59:25how people make meaning of their experiences.
- 59:28And of course, me now I'm sounding
- 59:29very much like an anthropologist.
- 59:30Like what?
- 59:31How does it relate in your world of meaning?
- 59:33But like really like that That's
- 59:35kind of where we where we can go
- 59:37with thinking about how people
- 59:39interpret and understand what
- 59:41these experiences are to that.
- 59:43Because yeah, somebody might say like,
- 59:44Oh well, you know,
- 59:45like I don't have.
- 59:46Nightmares but like I and dramatically
- 59:48interact with my world differently
- 59:50because of what this what this you
- 59:53know what this experience did and
- 59:55you know those are the kinds of
- 59:56things that you get out with like
- 59:58further follow up questions and
- 59:58or like paying attention to body
- 60:00language which is something that
- 01:00:01like you know we we learn about
- 01:00:03clinically we really pay attention
- 01:00:05to as anthropologist it's like I
- 01:00:07just I just noticed that you you
- 01:00:09hesitated there or like you know you
- 01:00:11you shifted right there like tell me
- 01:00:12what tell me what's going on like.
- 01:00:14You know and and really probing and
- 01:00:16being curious but of course when
- 01:00:18you have 15 minutes, 20 minutes,
- 01:00:19even a half an hour,
- 01:00:20you might not have all the time.
- 01:00:22So I I do recognize those limitations
- 01:00:24and I just you know,
- 01:00:25I can just offer that saying like
- 01:00:27you know that the answer might not
- 01:00:29tell you everything and everyone I
- 01:00:31think deserves kind of that that
- 01:00:32openness and curiosity in time.
- 01:00:36So technically at the end
- 01:00:38of our time, however Jess
- 01:00:40is going to linger with us for a bit.
- 01:00:42So if there's more questions if you're.
- 01:00:44Interested in staying and
- 01:00:45asking more questions?
- 01:00:46Please do thank you to everyone on
- 01:00:49Zoom and everyone who came here
- 01:00:51for joining us today and further
- 01:00:54questions and your engagement.
- 01:00:56I am gonna ask a question so
- 01:01:00you were talking and so if
- 01:01:02you must leave, feel free.
- 01:01:05Thank you.
- 01:01:09And I'll say it this
- 01:01:10way so that others might be
- 01:01:12interested in in listening.
- 01:01:13But you, your stories and the stories that,
- 01:01:17well, the stories of the women that
- 01:01:19you shared reminded me very much
- 01:01:20of a case of a woman that I worked
- 01:01:23with who crossed from from Mexico
- 01:01:25and who came with her little child.
- 01:01:27And it was remarkable to me,
- 01:01:29and they went through so much of
- 01:01:32the situations that you described.
- 01:01:34And the resilience, the forced resilience,
- 01:01:37the imperative resilience,
- 01:01:38right was was evident because mom could
- 01:01:42so quickly like switch into her frontal
- 01:01:45lobe to make decisions and figure things out.
- 01:01:48But it was actually her child symptoms that
- 01:01:50brought her in and opened her up to again.
- 01:01:54She would have listed,
- 01:01:56been listed as asymptomatic
- 01:01:57or maybe not meet threshold,
- 01:02:00but she absolutely benefited.
- 01:02:01From the work but could make find
- 01:02:03the way into her child because
- 01:02:05her child was having more symptoms
- 01:02:07that were sort of classically PTSD.
- 01:02:09And her love for that child and
- 01:02:12her concern for that child being
- 01:02:15able to be well and benefit in
- 01:02:17every way they possibly could from
- 01:02:20this journey was at the forefront.
- 01:02:22And to watch the engagement of this mom
- 01:02:25and child based on healing this this
- 01:02:29experience was also healing for mom.
- 01:02:31In that I also wonder though you
- 01:02:33talked a lot about the resilience and
- 01:02:36I wondered what did you come across
- 01:02:38folks who were pretty symptomatic
- 01:02:40and and what was what was that like
- 01:02:41and what were some of the barriers
- 01:02:43maybe that you found in in trying
- 01:02:44to get them some support and were
- 01:02:46there any successes in that?
- 01:02:48So the interesting thing about
- 01:02:49talking with you all as an audience
- 01:02:50is that you probably do encounter
- 01:02:51the more symptomatic people.
- 01:02:53And I always wonder,
- 01:02:54like if I had more of a selection
- 01:02:56bias given that I was talking
- 01:02:57with women who were in pregnancy,
- 01:02:59who were engaged in care,
- 01:03:00who were generally overall doing well.
- 01:03:02And the the flip side
- 01:03:04that I imagined is like,
- 01:03:05you know what is what happens when like this,
- 01:03:08when people like run out,
- 01:03:09like when this this.
- 01:03:11Tactic this like practice strategy of
- 01:03:14an imperative resilience like comes
- 01:03:16up short and I imagine that for a lot
- 01:03:19of this these women it can look like.
- 01:03:22You know, really cracking and,
- 01:03:24you know, having a Child Protective
- 01:03:27Services involvement or it can involve,
- 01:03:29you know, having carceral involvement.
- 01:03:31It can involve, you know,
- 01:03:32deportation.
- 01:03:32It can involve having their own,
- 01:03:34you know, like psychological or
- 01:03:36psychiatric distress such that they,
- 01:03:39you know, need to it be an intensive
- 01:03:41treatment or it can involve,
- 01:03:42you know, having.
- 01:03:44Either behaviors or, you know it,
- 01:03:46like environmental situations,
- 01:03:48such that their child needs to have
- 01:03:49this kind of intensive involvement.
- 01:03:51And the thing that I always come back
- 01:03:55to is thinking about how no one should
- 01:03:58be in this position to begin with.
- 01:04:00Like really, you know,
- 01:04:02we can do so much more to create
- 01:04:04situations where we are not.
- 01:04:07We you know like this should really
- 01:04:08be a last resort like all of us
- 01:04:11in this room like we we we know
- 01:04:13that like if we're thinking about
- 01:04:14like the mental health provision
- 01:04:16pyramid like y'all are at the top
- 01:04:19like and and that really we we need
- 01:04:21to be like making more robust like
- 01:04:23the the infrastructure at at the
- 01:04:26bottom like that you know the the.
- 01:04:28The policies, the services,
- 01:04:30the way that we culturally are
- 01:04:34oriented toward a ethic of care.
- 01:04:37And I think that that is where we fall short.
- 01:04:40And I think that that's where we can,
- 01:04:41you know,
- 01:04:42invest so much more because like
- 01:04:44I would like to see that that
- 01:04:47that dyad that you know, mother,
- 01:04:49child dyad, you know have.
- 01:04:53If it got to the point where you
- 01:04:54know this child is having so much so
- 01:04:56much symptoms that they already had
- 01:04:57all the food that they needed that
- 01:04:59they already had stable housing,
- 01:05:01they already had enough money
- 01:05:03to pay their bills.
- 01:05:04And that, you know,
- 01:05:05really like it was at the point where
- 01:05:07like really investing in you know
- 01:05:10those that that that attachment that
- 01:05:13you know coping strategies like that
- 01:05:15was really the the next like icing on
- 01:05:18the cake to get them over over the.
- 01:05:20Over the edge to to a place
- 01:05:23of healthy functioning.
- 01:05:24But I think too often what what
- 01:05:26gets people to you know everyone's
- 01:05:28door here is that all those other
- 01:05:30things are not in place and it it
- 01:05:33puts people to a place that puts
- 01:05:35people to a point of distress.
- 01:05:36So so yeah I I do imagine like that
- 01:05:38you know you you see a lot of the
- 01:05:41symptomatic people and that is where
- 01:05:42kind of this like functioning of an
- 01:05:44imperative resilience falls fall short.
- 01:05:46But I I really think that
- 01:05:47we can invest more in the.
- 01:05:49The surrounding policy environment,
- 01:05:52Thank you. I'm going to take
- 01:05:54you off the and again thanks.