Dear Pacifica Counseling, Clinical Psychology, and PsyD Alums,
Many of us are trying to discern how best we can use ourselves to respond effectively and meaningfully to this historical moment in our country. I want to invite you to consider learning how to write pro bono psychological/forensic reports for individuals and their families who are in deportation proceedings and attempting to fight their cases. Most of us live in communities where pro bono lawyers are seeking counselors and psychologists to evaluate their clients and the families of their clients to gain hardship exemptions from deportation. This involves assessing spouses and children to be able to speak to the degree of hardship that separation from a parent or spouse would cause. Such a forensic report can be extremely useful in offering an evidence-based narrative for the immigration judge that helps the judge understand more intimately the situation of a given family. This does not require foreign language proficiency as in many cases those you will interview can speak English or a translator can be used.
I am currently arranging a series of webinars with both report writing content and with time to ask questions. If you are interested in joining this initiative, please let me know by answering a very brief (3 minutes) survey monkey list of questions at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/L7DW85G
Separation of children and parents and of spouses leaves an indelible mark on all members of the separation. Now millions of people in our country are living daily with the fear of this separation.
Thank you for considering this project in the light of everything else you are doing,
Mary Watkins
Chair, Depth Psychology Program
Pacifica Graduate Institute
watkinsmarym@gmail.com
