Clinical Mental Health Counseling: Addressing Humanitarian Issues Faced by Undocumented Immigrants

This paper discusses the humanitarian issues faced by undocumented immigrants in the United States and proposes a program for clinical mental health counseling to address these issues. It explores the current treatment, intervention procedures, counselor roles, and the success of the program.

Running head: CLINICAL MENTAL HEALTH COUNSELING
CLINICAL MENTAL HEALTH COUNSELING
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author’s note

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Introduction:
Immigration policy remains a hotly debated issue in the united stated with perhaps no
aspect more controversial than how to address the undocumented immigrants who have no legal
status. As discussed by Fazel-Zarandi, Feinstein & Kaplan (2018), the most widely accepted
estimated number of the illegal imagines who entered into United States through United States –
Southern border, especially Texas – Mexico border is 1.3 million people (Ehrkamp & Nagel,
2017).. The statistical report suggested that 24 people per minute, per day worldwide, are forced
to flee their home in 21. Vargas et al. (2018), reported that every year 1 out of 113 individual sin
United States were displaced due to the humanitarian issues and they are either asylum seeker,
refugees or internally displaced. Cravey, Palis and Valdivia et al. (2015), highlighted that the
majority of the immigrant, who experienced humanitarian issues are under 18yearss. The mean
distribution of the immigrants in 2016 was 22.1 million and it will increase rapidly in the next
few years. (Ehrkamp & Nagel, 2017). The humanitarian workers and migrants themselves
reported that the majority of the immigrants with an illegal status experience a high level of
anxiety due to a less welcoming environment. Majority of them were experiencing a lack of
shelter, mental and physical violence, especially children who were left undying due to lack of
medication (Chavez& Menjívar, 2017). This paper will illustrate Description of the problem
nationally and in the local area, operational definition of terms, current treatment, description of
the proposed program, Discussion of special issues and professional CMHC organizations that
can support the training and implication for counselors.
Discussion:

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Immigration seems to be making more heading more headlines in recent years nationally
and locally. While the worldwide estimation of the immigrants is 191 million, in United States
the estimated immigrants are approximately 38 million. Keller et al. (2017), suggested that due
to poverty and violence the majority of the immigrants are moving to the United States through
the Texax –Mexican borders. Peña et al. (2017), reported that United States border authorities,
Texas have detained more than 1000 undocumented migrants who crossed the border illegally.
The group of immigrants includes 63 unaccompanied minors along with entire families who
belonged to Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. Chavez and Menjívar (2017), conducted a
secondary review, focusing on the migration of Mexican and Central American children. The
researchers suggested that children who were migrated without their parents were approximately
86000 and while they take a similar journey as adults, they are more vulnerable compared to the
migrated adults (Torres et al., 2018). Due to lack of guardian and caretakers, they were exploited
and extorted. They fall prey to smugglers, human trafficking. Goodman et al. (2017),
highlighted that the majority of the unaccompanied minors experienced forced labor situations,
sexual slaves and violence. The vulnerability is demarked by geographical distance, genders,
ethnicity and language proficiency. The children are usually caused by local police due to
undocumented migrations. Considering the experience of immigrants’ adults, they experienced a
lack of shelter, acute anxiety, and death threats and fall prey into gangs and become unemployed.
Significantly a number of migrated women experience sexual abuse, sexual violence and forced
slave depending on their ethnicity, race and language proficiency (DeMatthews et al., 2017).
Majority of the migrant adults experienced the trauma due to the journey and the exposure. The
immigrant adults experience chronic distress, decreased self-esteem, helpless, increased anxiety
and depression along with hyper-vigilance. The post-arrival stressor experienced by adults

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includes interpersonal conflict, fear of deportation, discrimination, and stigmatizations, substance
abuse.
The operational definition of key terms:
The paper focused on the humanitarian issues faced by the undocumented or illegal
immigrants in the United States – southern borders, locally Texas- Mexico border. In this current
context, the key terms include “the humanitarian issues” and “undocumented or illegal
immigrants”.
“The humanitarian issues” is defined as the single or serious of events which threats the
wellbeing, safety, and health of a large group of people or community. The community may
experience crisis due to man-made or natural disasters such as conflicts, famine, epidemics or
violence or any other natural disasters, as observed in this case (Lara-Cinisomo et al., 2016).
“Undocumented or illegal immigrants” defined as refers to the migration of people into
the country without legal rights to live in that country. Illegal immigration tends to observe in the
financially upward countries and they tend to migrate from economically poorer countries to
richer countries.
Effective intervention and experience of working with them:
Franco (2018), explored migration amongst the Mexican and Central American
unaccompanied refugee minors with the aim of developed effective intervention for supporting
the wellbeing of the immigrants and identifying the factors that affect the wellbeing. The
researchers suggested that pre-migration stressors, post-migration stressors and in journey
stressors often result in psychological distress such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic
stress disorders. The selected group for interventions are immigrant minors and families who

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are experiencing humanitarian issues. Hence, in order to reduce the trauma experienced by the
immigrants, the most effective interventions would be trauma-focused cognitive behavioral
therapy which can be also applied for the adults who were exposed to the stressors during the
process of illegal immigration. Lara-Cinisomo et al. (2016), highlighted that the cognitive
behavioral therapy for trauma in schools and mental health for immigration program is the most
effective intervention for the minors and it can be applied for the adults who are subjected to
psychological distress. The researchers also suggested the need for integrating cultural aspect in
the interventions for empowering illegal immigrants.
Berthol & Libal (2016), social workers and counselors usually collaborate with the
multidisciplinary teams to provide the facilities such as job assistance, supporting clients in
recovery, arranging educations and providing a holistic environment to the immigrants. The
refugees who experienced traumatic events and escaped hostile environment are required to
provide specialized counseling (Ostrander, Melville & Berthold, 2017). The majority of the
mental health program focused on the immigrants are supported by these specialized
interventions where professional’s counselors, social workers, and occupational therapies
provided the support in collaborating with the governing bodies (Eppsteiner & Hagan, 2016).
The common issues faced by social workers include language barriers, difficulties in dealing
with the past experiences and tendency of becoming socially isolated due to their personal lived
experience.
Proposed program intervention procedures:
As discussed above that the illegal immigrants are the most vulnerable population who
are required to provide the appropriate interventions. In this case, the proposed program would
be the health promotional program, “mental health and wellbeing program for the undocumented

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immigrations of the USA. The facilities can be provided in the health promotion would be the
basic needs such as Temporary Protected Status, employment, housing allocation, securities,
Legal status and educations required for the minorities and the adults who are willing to be
educated. The other facilities would access to the health care, translations, nutritional support
and mental health supports.
In this case, the first step is to communicate with the governing bodies in order to
identify the undocumented or illegal immigrants and identify who are experiencing mental health
issues for identifying the target audience for the program. The second step is to connect with
clients with an attorney, details of the demographics, their role in gathering documentation,
through reports and law enforcement (DeMatthews & Izquierdo, 2018). They are required to
meet the criteria of English proficiency, education, and age. The third step is a screening of each
immigrant who is experiencing mental and physical issues like trauma and providing them
trauma based cognitive behavioral therapy for mental health issues and provides interventions
according to their special need (Crawford, Aguayo & Valle, 2019). The fourth step is to
implement the programs for supporting the wellbeing of immigrants.
Counselor role and function in the program intervention:
The role of the counselor is to assist individuals and families to deal with the emotions
and trauma and associated mental health issues. As discussed above the illegal immigrants
experience chronic distress, decreased self-esteem, helpless, increased anxiety and depression
along with hyper-vigilance. Hence, in this case, the role of the counselor is to support the faster
recovery from the serious of the trauma they experienced through empowering them, reflecting
empathy and altering their negative thoughts. The function of the counselor is to provide
therapies such as trauma-based cognitive behavioral therapy and coaching in order to manage

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stress, disturbing emotions, altering thoughts and set goals for faster recovery (Crawford,
Aguayo & Valle, 2019).
Procedures used to gauge the success of the program:
While successful implementation is required for improving the well-being and altering
the negative thoughts, it is required to evaluate the outcome of the program. The expected
primary outcome of the program would be reduced trauma, reduced rate of fear of deportation,
improved self-confidence, and self-esteem, and reduced the fear of exploitation and alteration
of negative thoughts, reduced depression and anxiety, reduced use of the substance (Eppsteiner
& Hagan, 2016).. The secondary outcome would be improved quality of life, empowerment, and
high self-esteem. The outcome measures for evaluating the success of the program would be
reduced rate of anxiety and depression, faster recovery from the trauma and timeline of it,
reduced rate of fear of deportation, improved thought process.
Discussion of special issues:
The target audience of the mental health program would be the illegal immigrants such as
illegal minors and families who came to the United States. In this case, the culture, trace, and
ethnicity are diffident from the illegal immigrants coming from. Hence, in this case, cultural
incompetence is an ethical issue that impacts the successful accomplishment of the program.
Cisneros and Lopez (2016) suggested that the majority of the immigrants are coming from
different culture race and ethnicity and the professionals who provide therapies to the illegal
immigrants are belong to different race and ethnicity, the culture of the United States.
Consequently, cultural barriers present in between the health care professionals and clients.
Crawford, Aguayo and Valle (2019) suggested that when clients from a different culture are

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treated by the health professional who has inadequate cultural incompetency may result in ethical
issues. The clients tend to be offended if their cultural components are integrated into the
treatment. It will reduce the satisfaction and affect the faster recovery of the patients. Hence, in
order to facilitate the faster recovery of the patients, it is required to gather the skills of cultural
competencies.
Counseling and mental health center at Austin can support the training and advancement of the
program. The college students often face mental health issues such as difficulty in handling
emotions. They offer trauma based therapies to individuals who experienced severe trauma.
The implication for counselors:
The successful accomplishment of the program may facilitate the skills of a counselor.
The engagement in the program assists counselors to improve interpersonal and communication
skills, greater self-acceptance and self-esteem (Ehrkamp & Nagel, 2017). It will provide the
opportunity to improve the expression and management of toxic emotions. Moreover, it will also
facilitate the confidence and decision making skills which will result in an empowered patient,
high patient satisfaction.
Conclusion:
Thus it can be concluded that humanitarian issues are common for the undocumented
immigrants who are coming through United States - the southern border. The majority of the
undocumented immigrants are either unaccompanied minors or the entire family from different
race and ethnicity. Due to lack of guardian and caretakers, the minors were exploited and
extorted. They fall prey to smugglers, human trafficking. The adults also experienced issues such
as anxiety, depression, and fear of deportation. The program can be designed for supporting the

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wellbeing of them which can provide the facilities such as Temporary Protected Status,
employment, housing allocation, securities. Legal status and educations for the minorities and
the adults who are willing to be educated. The other facilities would access to health care,
transportation, nutritional support and mental health supports. In this case, the role of the
counselor is to assist individuals and families to deal with the emotions and trauma and
associated mental health issues with the help of different mental health therapies. It will help
the counselor to improve the communication and interpersonal skills to provide support to
immigrants

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