This is a recording of Session 2 of Rising Practices & Policies Revisited - Uplifting Supports, Strengths, and Healing for Refugees from War. The session was held on June 12, 2023.

In this session, Region 9’s Technical Assistance Specialist, Oriana Ides, facilitated a panel that focused on trauma informed and sensitive approaches to service for clients and students who are refugees from current and previous crises. The panel included speakers across our region who have lived experience with the impact of war and whose practices and policies reflect attunement to war-recovery needs. These special guests included José Patiño, Dr. Natalya (Natasha) Bogopolskaya, and Stephanie Noriega, who all shared strategies for working with individuals who have survived wars and navigated the ensuing primary, secondary, and vicarious traumas that resulted from this experience.

In this session, we explored the following questions and more:

• What are fundamental elements of providing care and services to those who are war impacted?
• What are ways that experiencing secondary or vicarious war impacts survivors’ recovery (e.g., how does seeing the war in Ukraine impact the mental health of Afghani refugees in California, Ecuadorian asylees in Arizona, or native Pacific Islanders in Guam)?
• How can therapists, peer specialists, social workers, and other providers adapt services to ensure cultural humility and responsiveness?
• What practices and policies have emerged in the past year to help us help?