Our Goals

The goal of this Immigrant and Refugee Families lab is to advance interdisciplinary, social justice scholarship with immigrant and refugee families. We aim to advocate for and promote various forms of health and wellbeing (e.g., mental health, financial wellbeing) in immigrant and refugee families through intersecting efforts:
Intersections of Research, Education, and Community Engagement and Advocacy

Research

  • Engaging in participatory action research that serves the dual purposes of contributing to the multiple disciplinary bases involved in this work, and identifying clinical spaces that provides critical services to immigrant and refugee families –financial, social/community, health/mental health, and family
Education
  • Providing national/international training on various culturally relevant interventions for immigrant and refugee populations
  • Engaging undergraduate and graduate students in research and training to increase the capacity in practice and academic fields
Community Engagement and Advocacy Advocating for human rights and social justice related to immigrant and refugee families

Definitions

While there are similarities between immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, there are also important circumstances that distinguish each label:
  • Immigrant: A person who comes to a country where they were not born in order to settle.
  • Refugee: A person typically forcibly displaced by war or natural disaster or feeling persecuted because of nationality, race, religion, political opinion, or membership in a group. A refugee receives permission to come to a country and is resettled with the help of a refugee resettlement agency.
  • Asylum Seeker: A person already in a secondary country when applying for protection. These individuals have to prove that they have reason to fear persecution in their home country.