Trauma-Informed Care When Working With Asylum Seekers
As physicians and physicians in training, our work with asylum seekers can promote their healing while also help them successfully navigate the immigration system. By definition, asylum seekers have endured unspeakable traumas, both in their countries of origin, and then in their journey to the US and again once in the US, perhaps in ICE jails and then through a very adversarial immigration system. I have learned over the years how to be part of the healing process during this very difficult time in their lives.
Lecture Objectives
Define trauma-informed care as it pertains to migrants, especially asylum seekers.
Apply principles of trauma-informed care in a clinical setting.
Contextualize structural factors that impact patients who are asylum seekers and identify their unique care needs.
Describe key elements in reframing the exam room experience for asylum seekers.
Give the patient control
Do not make assumptions
Treating the many layers of trauma, stress and suffering
Be able to summarize the first encounter and how to document your findings
Kate Sugarman, MD
Kate Sugarman, MD received her B.A. from Harvard College and completed her medical education at Jefferson Medical College. She went on to complete her training at Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, New York. She is a licensed family physician in the District of Columbia. She has a passion for human rights medicine and working to bring justice to immigrants seeking asylum in the United States.
Since she began writing forensic evaluations for asylum seekers in 2005, she has interviewed, examined and documented for over 600 immigrants – all of which have been granted asylum or cases are still pending. She has also spoken at several conferences sharing her work on Forensic Evaluations of Survivors of Torture.