October 8, 2024 • 32 mins
What unique challenges do refugee and migrant youth face during resettlement, and how can educational systems best support their integration and mental health?
Ilana Seff, a Research Assistant Professor at the Brown School at Washington University, and Jeremy Aldrich, Director of Teaching and Learning in Harrisonburg City Public Schools, delve into this crucial topic in this episode. Ilana highlights her work on mental health support for displaced women and adolescents in the U.S., particularly through the 'SALaMA Study,' while Jeremy discusses the significance of language and cultural belonging through his experience as an ESL teacher and leader in the Virginia Dual Language Educators Network. They discuss the vital role of schools in creating inclusive environments, the importance of family engagement, and the effectiveness of peer support in aiding integration and fostering resilience among refugee and migrant adolescents.
Check out the shownotes to learn more!
Takeaways:
- Refugee and migrant youth face significant emotional challenges while resettling in new environments.
- Schools play a critical role in providing support and fostering a sense of belonging for these students.
- Language acquisition is vital for social integration and academic success among refugee adolescents.
- Family involvement is crucial in helping students adjust and navigate the school system effectively.
- Peer mentoring can greatly assist refugee youth in understanding school norms and making connections.
- Mental health support is essential, as many adolescents experience heightened levels of distress and isolation.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Hey, it's Hetal Baman with theglobal Health Pursuit podcast here
with another episode. Today we're
talking about the challenges that
refugees and the migrant youth population
faces as they resettle into new countries,
new schools, new languages, and the
emotional weight that comes with
starting over. How can our schools
andcommunities best support these young
people? How can we make sure that
they don't just survive, but also
thrive? We've got two amazing guests
joining us to help unpack this Ilana
Sef, a research assistant professor
atthe Brown School at Washington University
who brings her expertise from working
on mental health support for displaced
women and adolescents. She's been
involved with the Salama study, which
is a study that seeks to assess the
mental health and psychosocial well
being of high school students who
have been or whose parents have been
resettled to the US from middle eastern
and north african countries. And
then we've got Jeremy Aldrich, the
director of teaching and learning
inHarrisonburg City Public schools.
Jeremyhas years of experience as an ESL
teacher, and hes really passionate
aboutthe power of language and cultural
belonging. He also leads the Virginia
Dual Language Educators Network,
whichfocuses on creating bilingual environments
that make students feel seen and
understood. In this conversation,
we explorehow schools can create safe, inclusive
spaces for these students, why family
involvement is so crucial, and how
peer support can make all the difference
in helping refugee and migrant kids
settle in and succeed. As always,
makesure you're subscribed, leave a five
star review, and share this episode
with someone who might find it valuable.
Again, my name is Hetal Baman, and
you're listening to the global health
pursuit. Alana and Jeremy, I was
sostoked to have you guys on the podcast.
This is such an important topic to
talk about, especially in the political
climate that we have right now. This
is a very specific field, migrant
andrefugee work, even language learning.
What drew you guys into this field?
What made you so passionate about
this?
(02:37):
Yeah, sure. It's a goodquestion. I actually got into this
space, I would say, via work on gender
based violence. So my kind of initial
work, when I did my doctorate in
public health and global health focused
on violence against women and girls
among forcibly displaced populations.
Unsurprisingly, a lot of that work
and intervention evaluation focused
onmental health support for survivors
forwomen and girls at risk of gbv. And
so that kind of brought me into this
sort of mental health psychosocial
wellbeingspace. And then that, you know, certainly
people who have experience forced
displacement or are in ongoing, protracted
conflicts have a number of other,
youknow, exposures that warrant mental
health and psychosocial services.
And sothen I kind of veered into that space,
not just focused on services for
survivors or understanding mental
health issues for survivors. And
then Salama, the study that really
going to be talking about more today,
the study of adolescent lives after
migration to America, was actually
thefirst study where I worked on this
issue domestically. The focus here
is really on adolescent populations
whohave been resettled from the Middle
east and North african region and
really trying to understand what
they have been through, not just
prior to migration, but even during
the resettlement process and their
mental health needs. I have loved
working on this study. It has been
anewer focus, though. The study itself
has been going on for about seven
years. It feels like such an important
topic. And, you know, in the country,
we're really facing a mental health
crisis for adolescents, and it's
only more pronounced for, you know,
those in minority groups. It's felt
really meaningful, I think, to work
on this topic.
(04:25):
I come at this through thelens of a k twelve educator, currently
myschool district administrator. But
I started my career around the year
2000 as an ESL teacher in a middle
school setting. And I remember my
very first year as a teacher. The
most challenging student that I worked
with was a resettled refugee from
Kurdistan. We were just oil and water.
I wish I could go back and coach
myself as a younger teacher in how
to understand the pieces that that
student was bringing to the table
andhow to respond in ways that could
have honored his experience more.
Throughout the years, I've had an
opportunity to work with a variety
ofstudents from different migrant or
refugee backgrounds. We're in a very
diverse school division here in Virginia.
This particular study we connected
tothrough our work with Qatar Foundation
International QFI, who has supported
ourArabic language programs. We signed
onto understand more about our students,
and it's been a great journey.
(05:28):
You were an ESL teacher? Andmy parents came over from India,
Ithink, in the late 1980s. And so
Iremember going to ESL class as well
because English is not my first language.
And so there was a very interesting.
It wasa very interesting time for me.
(05:49):
Yeah. Language layers ontoidentity and culture. And so that
used language even within our home
environment is something that I'm
sure your family has experienced.
Ourfamily's experience of who speaks
whatlanguage to whom, and what does it
indicate about their roles within
thefamily, their roles within the community,
their identity of themselves. That
actually came out in the Salama study
of the importance of language acquisition
and the importance of language as
an aspect of identity.
(06:17):
That article from 2021 thatyou co wrote, and it states that
55,000 Afghans, with an additional
125,000refugees from all around the world,
would arrive by the end of 2022.
Andit mentions how american schools
arereally essential in welcoming these
newcomers. Can you speak to how crucial
this statement actually turned out
to be? And then on top of that, what
was it like in schools before this
sort of pressure to welcome these
refugees?
(06:56):
Yeah, it's a great question. Idon't have the exact stats in front
of me for afghan new arrivals specifically,
but I think even from August 2021
through September 2022, within that
year, there were about 90,000 afghan
refugees who came and were welcomed
intothe US. The number and can vary each
year, especially with administrations,
buthistorically does fall at about 125,000
refugees each year. Not all of those
are adolescents, but certainly for
adolescents, schools are such a critical
point of contact for newcomers, and
they're such a consistent point of
contact for adolescents. We know
kids are going to school every day.
It presents an important opportunity
tosupport them in their integration,
in theirlanguage acquisition, adjusting socially,
academically. It's such a critical
pointof intervention for students, but
Ithink importantly, not just students,
butit also presents an opportunity to
identify services that may be needed
for families as well. When schools
havethe resources to engage caregivers
and toengage, you know, other kind of adults
and students lives, they can really
work with local organizations to
share resources and ensure that,
youknow, there's these kind of cross
checks that are embedded in to really
support students, but also, you know,
direct families to services as well.
One of the key pieces about school,
andthis is perhaps, I think, one of
two of or two of, I would say the
probably most important findings,
Ithink, that came out of the whole
Salama study, is that students born
outside the US exhibited greater
levelsof suicide ideation.
(08:45):
Oh, I saw that.
That was a big one. This wasdriven especially by the students
fromthe Middle east and North african
region. But the kind of second piece
to that was this really substantial
andstatistically significant role that
perceived school belonging played
inbuffering against that risk. So students
who felt like they belonged in their
schools had lower rates of suicide
ideation. They exhibited greater
overall resilience. And so not only
do students kind of offer this opportunity
to intervene, but it's also imperative
that they create a space where students
feel like they belong or they risk
potentially contributing to these
really more serious mental health
issues.
(09:35):
Yeah, I think that was reallywhere I was gonna go next. Jeremy,
assomebody who has worked directly
in theschool systems. What have you seen
like, what were your direct experiences
like in the school system setting?
Whatwere you witnessing there?
Well, we have a lot ofimmigrant and refugee students and
have a strong history of welcoming
postconflict folks from all over the
world. You can follow the international
newsand see who the next wave of students
that might be coming to Hershenberg
wouldbe. Generally speaking, we see students
in crisis, often bringing things
thataren't directly related to school,
thatthe social emotional needs or the
psychosocial needs are about what's
happening beyond their school day
to a great degree. But we do know
that students who feel connected,
who feelloved, who feel supported both at
school and at home, have more resilience,
can have a more robust response to
the stressors they experience. When
you think about adolescence is hard
enough as it is, and when you add
in other factors of having experienced
violence or going through major life
changes or family separation, all
these pieces that add up to create
stress in any human being, much less
an adolescent who's already experiencing
thehighs and lows, it can be explosive,
forsure. We see that in our school population.
I think it was interesting to see.
Ithink it highlights again that need
for thinking of the student as a
whole person and thinking of what
they're experiencing outside of school
and what they bring to the table.
Andthen also, how can we promote their
resiliency factors?
(11:15):
When I was growing up, Ialways felt as, especially as the
firstborn, my parents were also just
trying to figure it out. Going through
schools and then going through ESL,
I've always felt like I was alone,
like I had to figure it out. For
example, if there was an exam coming
up or a project that I had to do,
Icouldn't really ask my parents. You
know, I didn't have that resource.
So Ihad to go out and find that, whether
itbe in the schools, a friend or a
friend transparent. I completely
understand where that comes from.
(11:56):
Yeah. And I think you bring upa really good point that I want to
touch on because we conducted focus
group discussions with newcomer adolescents
and, you know, we asked them what,
what supports would you wish to see
for students like you who are, you
know, coming from conflict affected
arabmajority countries? When you first
get here and you're in this school
system, what supports would you want
to see? And I think one of the things
that came up quite often is like,
teach us what the norms are in this
school system. And you're kind of
talking about like, you have a test,
you don't know who to go to. Like,
what is this test gonna be like?
Andeven small things, like, can I have
my cell phone out in the hallways?
Thingsthat we just take for granted as
being, like, you know, the rules.
Andthey're coming from a very different
context. They don't know the rules.
And really having a peer mentor or
someone that can kind of show them
the ropes, ideally, someone who has
already been through that process
andhad to adjust to the new school system
and now can impart that wisdom to
someone else. So I think that's a
common struggle you talked about.
(13:02):
Yeah. Especially being thefirst born, too. And it was like,
andthen all of my cousins and my brother
was born, and I was the one that
they had to go to to say, okay, I
need help with this project, or,
Ineed help with this subject, or,
Ilike this boy. Talk to me about this.
I was like, oh, my gosh, I made so
many mistakes going through all of
this. How can you ask my help? I
was one of the only few people they
could go to. It makes sense to have
that peer mentor, that person you
can go to, that won't judge you.
That makes so much sense now, Jeremy,
Iwant to ask you, because you focus
alot on learning languages and the
language experience for refugees
andmigrant workers. You were the first
president of Virginia Dual Language
Educators Network. What is it? And
then why was it created? How does
itsupport young students?
(14:01):
We're really proud of duallanguage education in Virginia, and
we're piggybacking on successes around
the country. Dual language is an
educational model where students
learnfor half of the day in one language
andhalf of the day in another language.
Inour case, it's Spanish and English,
ourdual language programs, we're majority
hispanic districts, so that language
combination makes sense. It results
inall kinds of benefits. The reason
thatwe do it, it does end up resulting
inhigher academic achievement over
time, but it also has lots of social
emotional benefits. It allows students
coming from different language background
homes to have greater access to teacher
and family communication. It also
reinforces positive identity for
students who speak a variety of languages.
We've been very happy to see dual
language continue to grow in Harrisonburg
and throughout Virginia. So we started
the Vadlund, the Virginia dual language
educators network to support that
growth and to build a network. You
were talking a minute ago about your
experience as an child of immigrants
andoldest child, and how you took on
the role of the person who was trusted,
knowledgeable, and available. And
Ithink those three pieces are what
everybody needs. Whatever role they're
in. Right. We need people around
uswho are trusted, knowledgeable, and
available. And if that's true for
educators as much as it is true for
our.
(15:21):
Students, Alana, with yourresearch, since you look at it in
a different perspective or lightning,
howcritical is it for you in terms of
the language component?
Yeah. So, I mean, I wastalking earlier about the focus group
discussions we had. We did this participatory
exercise where we asked them, like,
what supports would you want? And
Ithink we did 14 different focus group
discussions across, you know, it's
in Harrisonburg. We did them in Austin,
Texas, and Detroit metropolitan area
in Michigan. And the thing, the only
thing that was brought up organically
inevery single site was language learning.
So it's critical, and it was ranked
one of the highest as well. As Jeremy
was saying, it's not just about academic
performance and the need to learn
inEnglish in schools. It's critical
forintegrating socially and being able
to kind of, you know, make friends
andengage in extracurricular activities,
butalso just the confidence that it
provides them to be able to speak
inEnglish. And, you know, I think,
youknow, you hear mostly about english
language acquisition, but it's also
important not to forget home language
retention piece and. And how critical,
asJeremy was saying, that is really
foridentity and also for kind of continuing
to connect with your family and recognizing
that that may be the language they're
speaking at home. And so having these
opportunities to continue to learn
that language, you know, when you're
in high school, when, you know, in
10th grade, I was still learning
English. Right. And so these, these
students have come over, and they
may still be learning their home
language. And so having opportunities
tocontinue to do that as well, I think
is really important.
(18:50):
That hits home for me becausemy Gujarati is not great anymore.
I wasthe most fluent when I was, like,
five or six. So then you go into
school, and then you're really focused
on learning English, and then you're
speaking English with your parents,
too,because my parents are also trying
tolearn English. And the only person
that is left to speak Gujarati with
is my grandmother or my grandparents.
And Ithink over the years, I started to
realize my Gujarati kind of sucks.
ButI do wish in schools maybe if there
was an option to continue speaking
inGujarati for, like, I don't know,
acouple periods or have somebody to
be there and to reinforce the fact
that, like, hey, don't forget this
language. My last grandparent had
just passed away. She was the person
that I was. I would always speak
itwith even like, doesn't matter how
broken it was, she would still respond.
She was the one person who wouldn't
laugh at me. Now I have to make a
concerted effort to make sure my
language retention in Gujarati is
not 100% gone in a few years. I wanted
to ask you, Alana, you've studied
somany students through this salama
study. What were the other findings
ordifficulties that you've seen within
these adolescents? You know, we spoke
about just being a normal kid growing
up in the States, puberty, growing
hardships with friendships, liking
other people and relationships. What
have you seen with migrants and refugees
in this context?
(20:45):
Yeah, you couldn't pay me amillion dollars to go back to middle
and high school. It's already a tough
period. I think the students that
wecollected data from, they have so
many exposures and challenges, really,
throughout the migration process.
Sobefore they migrate, often they're
exposed to conflict, breakdown of
social order. They've potentially
lostloved ones. They may be separated
fromloved ones as their I migrating to
another context, they maybe experience
violence. They've probably been out
of school and had to discontinue
theireducation for a period of time. And
that's just, you know, before migration,
during migration, again, they, you
know, they can be exposed to violence
often. Again, kind of a period of
no schooling, potentially. And then
once they get to the US, they really
continue to face challenges. It's,
you know, a lot of those issues are
kind of inherently resolved when
they get to the US and they're not
experiencing conflict, but they may
feel very kind of socially or culturally
displaced. They may be experiencing
poverty,they're continuing to be separated
fromloved ones, and then they're facing
kind of all of the challenges we've
talked about already in terms of
integrating into a new educational
system,learning a new language, new norms,
new standards. And so there's really
many layers to the challenges that
they're facing. And as Jeremy said,
you know, it's so much of it is not
just what's happening in school.
Theybring a whole history with them and
that. It's a lot.
(22:31):
It's a lot. Yeah. And on topof that, we have these crazy things
that happen in the world, like Covid.
So, Jeremy, I want to ask you, like,
as somebody who works in the school
system, what did you see with, like,
what happened with these students?
I'msure it was a hugely jarring experience
for them. Can you speak to that experience?
(22:57):
Yeah. It feels like it was amillion years ago in some ways, doesn't
it? But yet it wasn't. We have a
large group of people who for several
years experience, didn't experience
thepositive things about school, even
though they were still marginally
attending school online. I think
thatwe saw a decrease in that sense of
belonging. I think that's exemplified
byclassrooms where all the kids have
their cameras turned off. Right.
Andso you've got a virtual classroom
wherethere's not a lot of connection happening,
student to student, student to teacher.
I think that carried over even when
we were able to resume in person
learning. We saw a disconnect. And
some students who even still use
the mask not only as a health support,
but as a way of shielding themselves
frombeing perceived.
(23:49):
Interesting. Wait, talk moreabout that, because I've never heard
that.
Yeah, I mean, I think thatthere's, when you're 1213, 1415 years
old and you get used to almost being
invisible. Right. Even in an online
classroom setting, and then you're
inan in person setting, and if you
feel comfort with that invisibility,
you canstill do things pulling your hood
over your head or wearing the mask
or having earbuds in when you walk
through the hallway. So you're not
really in the space that you're in
the. And we see a lot of those behaviors,
and some of them are typical adolescent
behaviors, but I think they've been
exacerbated by students experience
duringthe feeling isolated, as well as
all kinds of political, cultural
factorsthat lead students to feel marginalized.
Butwe know that belonging and hope are
so, so important to resilience. And
so we've got to find ways for students
to feel they belong and to, to create
school environments where people
do,in fact, belong. And part of that
isinviting them to lower their shields
when they're with one another.
(25:00):
Turn on the camera.
Turn on the camera. Yeah.
Yeah.
Wow. In light of talking aboutbest practices or things that we've
implemented, especially even through
the study, Salama study, a lot of
what are some things that you've
learned and want to kind of implement
into schools, school systems, like
going forward?
(25:27):
Yeah, I can talk about acouple, and then I'd also am curious
tokind of hear Jared. Yeah, for sure,
you know, what they've implemented,
too. SoI know there's a couple have been
areal success in his schools. But,
you know, I think one of the things
iskind of twofold. One, you know, that
it can be difficult to engage families.
You talked about, oftentimes the
student may be the one in the family,
especially if they're the eldest,
thatis learning English and learning
it themost quickly, and is responsible
for kindof being the liaison with families
orcaregivers who don't speak English
aswell, and figuring out ways to still
ensure that families are engaged.
We sawin the school system that we did
some research in, in Detroit metropolitan
area, when automated messages went
out to caregivers, for example, that
there would be a snow day or some
other school announcement, they had
them automatically translated into
other languages, including Arabic.
Andso schools were able, or caregivers
wereable to receive that message, and
you were sure it was getting to the
caregivers and not getting to them
through an adolescent, which may
not always be the exact message that
you intended to pass along, ensuring
that you have staff that share these
identity dimensions with students.
So ifyou have a sizable population of
arab heritage, that you have providers
orsomeone at the school that shares
thatethnic or linguistic or country of
origin background, and that can be
a cultural liaison as well. And I'll
actually pass it to Jeremy here because
I think kind of that piece is something
that was done really well in the
Harrisonburg setting.
(27:07):
Yeah, we're pleased to havewhat we call family school liaisons,
where their full time job is to help
our families and schools connect
betterwith each other. So that does involve
some interpretation and translation,
but italso is really translating cultures,
almost more so than translating language,
helping both sides to understand
where thefamily's coming from, where the school
is coming from, and to work through
issues as they emerge to create effective
onboarding practices. A related thing
that we've done over the years has
been an ESL class for parents, focused
on building their capacity as education
partners and building an understanding
ofwhat our school system looks like
and what we can say, schooling in
the US. But we know that local schools
are very different from one another.
It's important to help families contextualize
and do that. Like Alana said, building
that family language connection,
helpingthem to see that school is not something
that they have to deal with only
through english speaking family members,
or in your case, their eldest child,
but that they can interact directly
andconfidently with people in the school
for the betterment of their students.
Another thing that we've done is
building peer connections. And so
there's an after school club that
meets called peer leaders, where
students, typically from refugee
backgrounds, get together and enjoy
sometimes social activities, sometimes
learning activities. But all with
that idea of, here are some people,
I'll go back to what you said earlier,
that are trusted, knowledgeable,
andavailable. And so here's the person
you can ask about how do we navigate
dating relationships in this context,
and how do we do the college application
process and what classes should I
take? And should I avoid the. All
those things that are a part of not
only your success, but also your
feeling of belonging and your feeling
of inclusion rather than marginalization?
(29:09):
Yeah. What I'm hearing isthat, number one is belonging, making
sure that you know that, hey, I belong
here as well, and I'm not an outsider.
And I think that's. Yeah, that's
something that I think people who
listen to this episode will really
resonate with. So thank you so much,
Alana and Jeremy, is there anything
elsethat you want to share? Any exciting
things happening for the future?
(29:39):
Yeah, I mean, I think it'snice to be able to. As I mentioned,
thestudy's been going on for, I think,
seven years, and we're kind of in
that closing year. And so it's nice
to be able to reflect on kind of
the evolution of the study and all
the different things that we've kind
of learned and the insights. One
thing we didn't get to talk about
aresome actual interventions that came
out of the findings that we've kind
of piloted in different settings.
So, youknow, a peer kind of social support
life skills intervention, a photovoice
intervention where students are kind
of sharing their voice and experiences
through picture taking. And I think
there are plans, hopefully, to. To
pilot and evaluate these on a larger
scale across the country. So we're
keeping our fingers crossed that,
youknow, that will come through and
we'll really be able to do that and
ensure that these interventions are
getting to more students. So that's,
Ithink, hopefully a next step that
isin our future kind of building on
salama.
(30:37):
Yay.
Yeah. This study has been justan incredible experience for me personally,
and getting to connect with people
whocare about some of the things that
Icare about most deeply and to do
good and important work. And so I
just want to celebrate the whole
team. And certainly you can find
outmore about the Salama study as well
as the findings, as well as best
practices or promising practices
onlinethrough the website. But I just want
to encourage everybody who's listening
tothis and who cares about global health
to find your network, put your ripples
out there, and connect with people,
because there's a lot of great work
happening, and you're going to. You're
going to go further and longer by
connecting with people who care about
the same things you care about. So
I celebrate everyone who is doing
something to make the world a better
place. Thank you.
(31:30):
Thank you for listening tothis episode. If you'd like to learn
more about today's topic and guest,
head over to the show notes linked
inthe description of this episode.
Thereyou can get access to resources,
links,and ways you can get involved in
the pursuit for global health. And
if you loved this episode, don't
forget to write me a review on Apple
Podcasts and rate the podcast on
Spotify. It helps me get in front
ofmore people just like you and continues
to elevate the causes we are so passionate
about. I'll see you in the next one.
Hey, it's Hetal Baman with theglobal Health Pursuit podcast here
with another episode. Today we're
talking about the challenges that
refugees and the migrant youth population
faces as they resettle into new countries,
new schools, new languages, and the
emotional weight that comes with
starting over. How can our schools
andcommunities best support these young
people? How can we make sure that
they don't just survive, but also
thrive? We've got two amazing guests
joining us to help unpack this Ilana
Sef, a research assistant professor
atthe Brown School at Washington University
who brings her expertise from working
on mental health support for displaced
women and adolescents. She's been
involved with the Salama study, which
is a study that seeks to assess the
mental health and psychosocial well
being of high school students who
have been or whose parents have been
resettled to the US from middle eastern
and north african countries. And
then we've got Jeremy Aldrich, the
director of teaching and learning
inHarrisonburg City Public schools.
Jeremyhas years of experience as an ESL
teacher, and hes really passionate
aboutthe power of language and cultural
belonging. He also leads the Virginia
Dual Language Educators Network,
whichfocuses on creating bilingual environments
that make students feel seen and
understood. In this conversation,
we explorehow schools can create safe, inclusive
spaces for these students, why family
involvement is so crucial, and how
peer support can make all the difference
in helping refugee and migrant kids
settle in and succeed. As always,
makesure you're subscribed, leave a five
star review, and share this episode
with someone who might find it valuable.
Again, my name is Hetal Baman, and
you're listening to the global health
pursuit. Alana and Jeremy, I was
sostoked to have you guys on the podcast.
This is such an important topic to
talk about, especially in the political
climate that we have right now. This
is a very specific field, migrant
andrefugee work, even language learning.
What drew you guys into this field?
What made you so passionate about
this?
(02:37):
Yeah, sure. It's a goodquestion. I actually got into this
space, I would say, via work on gender
based violence. So my kind of initial
work, when I did my doctorate in
public health and global health focused
on violence against women and girls
among forcibly displaced populations.
Unsurprisingly, a lot of that work
and intervention evaluation focused
onmental health support for survivors
forwomen and girls at risk of gbv. And
so that kind of brought me into this
sort of mental health psychosocial
wellbeingspace. And then that, you know, certainly
people who have experience forced
displacement or are in ongoing, protracted
conflicts have a number of other,
youknow, exposures that warrant mental
health and psychosocial services.
And sothen I kind of veered into that space,
not just focused on services for
survivors or understanding mental
health issues for survivors. And
then Salama, the study that really
going to be talking about more today,
the study of adolescent lives after
migration to America, was actually
thefirst study where I worked on this
issue domestically. The focus here
is really on adolescent populations
whohave been resettled from the Middle
east and North african region and
really trying to understand what
they have been through, not just
prior to migration, but even during
the resettlement process and their
mental health needs. I have loved
working on this study. It has been
anewer focus, though. The study itself
has been going on for about seven
years. It feels like such an important
topic. And, you know, in the country,
we're really facing a mental health
crisis for adolescents, and it's
only more pronounced for, you know,
those in minority groups. It's felt
really meaningful, I think, to work
on this topic.
(04:25):
I come at this through thelens of a k twelve educator, currently
myschool district administrator. But
I started my career around the year
2000 as an ESL teacher in a middle
school setting. And I remember my
very first year as a teacher. The
most challenging student that I worked
with was a resettled refugee from
Kurdistan. We were just oil and water.
I wish I could go back and coach
myself as a younger teacher in how
to understand the pieces that that
student was bringing to the table
andhow to respond in ways that could
have honored his experience more.
Throughout the years, I've had an
opportunity to work with a variety
ofstudents from different migrant or
refugee backgrounds. We're in a very
diverse school division here in Virginia.
This particular study we connected
tothrough our work with Qatar Foundation
International QFI, who has supported
ourArabic language programs. We signed
onto understand more about our students,
and it's been a great journey.
(05:28):
You were an ESL teacher? Andmy parents came over from India,
Ithink, in the late 1980s. And so
Iremember going to ESL class as well
because English is not my first language.
And so there was a very interesting.
It wasa very interesting time for me.
(05:49):
Yeah. Language layers ontoidentity and culture. And so that
used language even within our home
environment is something that I'm
sure your family has experienced.
Ourfamily's experience of who speaks
whatlanguage to whom, and what does it
indicate about their roles within
thefamily, their roles within the community,
their identity of themselves. That
actually came out in the Salama study
of the importance of language acquisition
and the importance of language as
an aspect of identity.
(06:17):
That article from 2021 thatyou co wrote, and it states that
55,000 Afghans, with an additional
125,000refugees from all around the world,
would arrive by the end of 2022.
Andit mentions how american schools
arereally essential in welcoming these
newcomers. Can you speak to how crucial
this statement actually turned out
to be? And then on top of that, what
was it like in schools before this
sort of pressure to welcome these
refugees?
(06:56):
Yeah, it's a great question. Idon't have the exact stats in front
of me for afghan new arrivals specifically,
but I think even from August 2021
through September 2022, within that
year, there were about 90,000 afghan
refugees who came and were welcomed
intothe US. The number and can vary each
year, especially with administrations,
buthistorically does fall at about 125,000
refugees each year. Not all of those
are adolescents, but certainly for
adolescents, schools are such a critical
point of contact for newcomers, and
they're such a consistent point of
contact for adolescents. We know
kids are going to school every day.
It presents an important opportunity
tosupport them in their integration,
in theirlanguage acquisition, adjusting socially,
academically. It's such a critical
pointof intervention for students, but
Ithink importantly, not just students,
butit also presents an opportunity to
identify services that may be needed
for families as well. When schools
havethe resources to engage caregivers
and toengage, you know, other kind of adults
and students lives, they can really
work with local organizations to
share resources and ensure that,
youknow, there's these kind of cross
checks that are embedded in to really
support students, but also, you know,
direct families to services as well.
One of the key pieces about school,
andthis is perhaps, I think, one of
two of or two of, I would say the
probably most important findings,
Ithink, that came out of the whole
Salama study, is that students born
outside the US exhibited greater
levelsof suicide ideation.
(08:45):
Oh, I saw that.
That was a big one. This wasdriven especially by the students
fromthe Middle east and North african
region. But the kind of second piece
to that was this really substantial
andstatistically significant role that
perceived school belonging played
inbuffering against that risk. So students
who felt like they belonged in their
schools had lower rates of suicide
ideation. They exhibited greater
overall resilience. And so not only
do students kind of offer this opportunity
to intervene, but it's also imperative
that they create a space where students
feel like they belong or they risk
potentially contributing to these
really more serious mental health
issues.
(09:35):
Yeah, I think that was reallywhere I was gonna go next. Jeremy,
assomebody who has worked directly
in theschool systems. What have you seen
like, what were your direct experiences
like in the school system setting?
Whatwere you witnessing there?
Well, we have a lot ofimmigrant and refugee students and
have a strong history of welcoming
postconflict folks from all over the
world. You can follow the international
newsand see who the next wave of students
that might be coming to Hershenberg
wouldbe. Generally speaking, we see students
in crisis, often bringing things
thataren't directly related to school,
thatthe social emotional needs or the
psychosocial needs are about what's
happening beyond their school day
to a great degree. But we do know
that students who feel connected,
who feelloved, who feel supported both at
school and at home, have more resilience,
can have a more robust response to
the stressors they experience. When
you think about adolescence is hard
enough as it is, and when you add
in other factors of having experienced
violence or going through major life
changes or family separation, all
these pieces that add up to create
stress in any human being, much less
an adolescent who's already experiencing
thehighs and lows, it can be explosive,
forsure. We see that in our school population.
I think it was interesting to see.
Ithink it highlights again that need
for thinking of the student as a
whole person and thinking of what
they're experiencing outside of school
and what they bring to the table.
Andthen also, how can we promote their
resiliency factors?
(11:15):
When I was growing up, Ialways felt as, especially as the
firstborn, my parents were also just
trying to figure it out. Going through
schools and then going through ESL,
I've always felt like I was alone,
like I had to figure it out. For
example, if there was an exam coming
up or a project that I had to do,
Icouldn't really ask my parents. You
know, I didn't have that resource.
So Ihad to go out and find that, whether
itbe in the schools, a friend or a
friend transparent. I completely
understand where that comes from.
(11:56):
Yeah. And I think you bring upa really good point that I want to
touch on because we conducted focus
group discussions with newcomer adolescents
and, you know, we asked them what,
what supports would you wish to see
for students like you who are, you
know, coming from conflict affected
arabmajority countries? When you first
get here and you're in this school
system, what supports would you want
to see? And I think one of the things
that came up quite often is like,
teach us what the norms are in this
school system. And you're kind of
talking about like, you have a test,
you don't know who to go to. Like,
what is this test gonna be like?
Andeven small things, like, can I have
my cell phone out in the hallways?
Thingsthat we just take for granted as
being, like, you know, the rules.
Andthey're coming from a very different
context. They don't know the rules.
And really having a peer mentor or
someone that can kind of show them
the ropes, ideally, someone who has
already been through that process
andhad to adjust to the new school system
and now can impart that wisdom to
someone else. So I think that's a
common struggle you talked about.
(13:02):
Yeah. Especially being thefirst born, too. And it was like,
andthen all of my cousins and my brother
was born, and I was the one that
they had to go to to say, okay, I
need help with this project, or,
Ineed help with this subject, or,
Ilike this boy. Talk to me about this.
I was like, oh, my gosh, I made so
many mistakes going through all of
this. How can you ask my help? I
was one of the only few people they
could go to. It makes sense to have
that peer mentor, that person you
can go to, that won't judge you.
That makes so much sense now, Jeremy,
Iwant to ask you, because you focus
alot on learning languages and the
language experience for refugees
andmigrant workers. You were the first
president of Virginia Dual Language
Educators Network. What is it? And
then why was it created? How does
itsupport young students?
(14:01):
We're really proud of duallanguage education in Virginia, and
we're piggybacking on successes around
the country. Dual language is an
educational model where students
learnfor half of the day in one language
andhalf of the day in another language.
Inour case, it's Spanish and English,
ourdual language programs, we're majority
hispanic districts, so that language
combination makes sense. It results
inall kinds of benefits. The reason
thatwe do it, it does end up resulting
inhigher academic achievement over
time, but it also has lots of social
emotional benefits. It allows students
coming from different language background
homes to have greater access to teacher
and family communication. It also
reinforces positive identity for
students who speak a variety of languages.
We've been very happy to see dual
language continue to grow in Harrisonburg
and throughout Virginia. So we started
the Vadlund, the Virginia dual language
educators network to support that
growth and to build a network. You
were talking a minute ago about your
experience as an child of immigrants
andoldest child, and how you took on
the role of the person who was trusted,
knowledgeable, and available. And
Ithink those three pieces are what
everybody needs. Whatever role they're
in. Right. We need people around
uswho are trusted, knowledgeable, and
available. And if that's true for
educators as much as it is true for
our.
(15:21):
Students, Alana, with yourresearch, since you look at it in
a different perspective or lightning,
howcritical is it for you in terms of
the language component?
Yeah. So, I mean, I wastalking earlier about the focus group
discussions we had. We did this participatory
exercise where we asked them, like,
what supports would you want? And
Ithink we did 14 different focus group
discussions across, you know, it's
in Harrisonburg. We did them in Austin,
Texas, and Detroit metropolitan area
in Michigan. And the thing, the only
thing that was brought up organically
inevery single site was language learning.
So it's critical, and it was ranked
one of the highest as well. As Jeremy
was saying, it's not just about academic
performance and the need to learn
inEnglish in schools. It's critical
forintegrating socially and being able
to kind of, you know, make friends
andengage in extracurricular activities,
butalso just the confidence that it
provides them to be able to speak
inEnglish. And, you know, I think,
youknow, you hear mostly about english
language acquisition, but it's also
important not to forget home language
retention piece and. And how critical,
asJeremy was saying, that is really
foridentity and also for kind of continuing
to connect with your family and recognizing
that that may be the language they're
speaking at home. And so having these
opportunities to continue to learn
that language, you know, when you're
in high school, when, you know, in
10th grade, I was still learning
English. Right. And so these, these
students have come over, and they
may still be learning their home
language. And so having opportunities
tocontinue to do that as well, I think
is really important.
(18:50):
That hits home for me becausemy Gujarati is not great anymore.
I wasthe most fluent when I was, like,
five or six. So then you go into
school, and then you're really focused
on learning English, and then you're
speaking English with your parents,
too,because my parents are also trying
tolearn English. And the only person
that is left to speak Gujarati with
is my grandmother or my grandparents.
And Ithink over the years, I started to
realize my Gujarati kind of sucks.
ButI do wish in schools maybe if there
was an option to continue speaking
inGujarati for, like, I don't know,
acouple periods or have somebody to
be there and to reinforce the fact
that, like, hey, don't forget this
language. My last grandparent had
just passed away. She was the person
that I was. I would always speak
itwith even like, doesn't matter how
broken it was, she would still respond.
She was the one person who wouldn't
laugh at me. Now I have to make a
concerted effort to make sure my
language retention in Gujarati is
not 100% gone in a few years. I wanted
to ask you, Alana, you've studied
somany students through this salama
study. What were the other findings
ordifficulties that you've seen within
these adolescents? You know, we spoke
about just being a normal kid growing
up in the States, puberty, growing
hardships with friendships, liking
other people and relationships. What
have you seen with migrants and refugees
in this context?
(20:45):
Yeah, you couldn't pay me amillion dollars to go back to middle
and high school. It's already a tough
period. I think the students that
wecollected data from, they have so
many exposures and challenges, really,
throughout the migration process.
Sobefore they migrate, often they're
exposed to conflict, breakdown of
social order. They've potentially
lostloved ones. They may be separated
fromloved ones as their I migrating to
another context, they maybe experience
violence. They've probably been out
of school and had to discontinue
theireducation for a period of time. And
that's just, you know, before migration,
during migration, again, they, you
know, they can be exposed to violence
often. Again, kind of a period of
no schooling, potentially. And then
once they get to the US, they really
continue to face challenges. It's,
you know, a lot of those issues are
kind of inherently resolved when
they get to the US and they're not
experiencing conflict, but they may
feel very kind of socially or culturally
displaced. They may be experiencing
poverty,they're continuing to be separated
fromloved ones, and then they're facing
kind of all of the challenges we've
talked about already in terms of
integrating into a new educational
system,learning a new language, new norms,
new standards. And so there's really
many layers to the challenges that
they're facing. And as Jeremy said,
you know, it's so much of it is not
just what's happening in school.
Theybring a whole history with them and
that. It's a lot.
(22:31):
It's a lot. Yeah. And on topof that, we have these crazy things
that happen in the world, like Covid.
So, Jeremy, I want to ask you, like,
as somebody who works in the school
system, what did you see with, like,
what happened with these students?
I'msure it was a hugely jarring experience
for them. Can you speak to that experience?
(22:57):
Yeah. It feels like it was amillion years ago in some ways, doesn't
it? But yet it wasn't. We have a
large group of people who for several
years experience, didn't experience
thepositive things about school, even
though they were still marginally
attending school online. I think
thatwe saw a decrease in that sense of
belonging. I think that's exemplified
byclassrooms where all the kids have
their cameras turned off. Right.
Andso you've got a virtual classroom
wherethere's not a lot of connection happening,
student to student, student to teacher.
I think that carried over even when
we were able to resume in person
learning. We saw a disconnect. And
some students who even still use
the mask not only as a health support,
but as a way of shielding themselves
frombeing perceived.
(23:49):
Interesting. Wait, talk moreabout that, because I've never heard
that.
Yeah, I mean, I think thatthere's, when you're 1213, 1415 years
old and you get used to almost being
invisible. Right. Even in an online
classroom setting, and then you're
inan in person setting, and if you
feel comfort with that invisibility,
you canstill do things pulling your hood
over your head or wearing the mask
or having earbuds in when you walk
through the hallway. So you're not
really in the space that you're in
the. And we see a lot of those behaviors,
and some of them are typical adolescent
behaviors, but I think they've been
exacerbated by students experience
duringthe feeling isolated, as well as
all kinds of political, cultural
factorsthat lead students to feel marginalized.
Butwe know that belonging and hope are
so, so important to resilience. And
so we've got to find ways for students
to feel they belong and to, to create
school environments where people
do,in fact, belong. And part of that
isinviting them to lower their shields
when they're with one another.
(25:00):
Turn on the camera.
Turn on the camera. Yeah.
Yeah.
Wow. In light of talking aboutbest practices or things that we've
implemented, especially even through
the study, Salama study, a lot of
what are some things that you've
learned and want to kind of implement
into schools, school systems, like
going forward?
(25:27):
Yeah, I can talk about acouple, and then I'd also am curious
tokind of hear Jared. Yeah, for sure,
you know, what they've implemented,
too. SoI know there's a couple have been
areal success in his schools. But,
you know, I think one of the things
iskind of twofold. One, you know, that
it can be difficult to engage families.
You talked about, oftentimes the
student may be the one in the family,
especially if they're the eldest,
thatis learning English and learning
it themost quickly, and is responsible
for kindof being the liaison with families
orcaregivers who don't speak English
aswell, and figuring out ways to still
ensure that families are engaged.
We sawin the school system that we did
some research in, in Detroit metropolitan
area, when automated messages went
out to caregivers, for example, that
there would be a snow day or some
other school announcement, they had
them automatically translated into
other languages, including Arabic.
Andso schools were able, or caregivers
wereable to receive that message, and
you were sure it was getting to the
caregivers and not getting to them
through an adolescent, which may
not always be the exact message that
you intended to pass along, ensuring
that you have staff that share these
identity dimensions with students.
So ifyou have a sizable population of
arab heritage, that you have providers
orsomeone at the school that shares
thatethnic or linguistic or country of
origin background, and that can be
a cultural liaison as well. And I'll
actually pass it to Jeremy here because
I think kind of that piece is something
that was done really well in the
Harrisonburg setting.
(27:07):
Yeah, we're pleased to havewhat we call family school liaisons,
where their full time job is to help
our families and schools connect
betterwith each other. So that does involve
some interpretation and translation,
but italso is really translating cultures,
almost more so than translating language,
helping both sides to understand
where thefamily's coming from, where the school
is coming from, and to work through
issues as they emerge to create effective
onboarding practices. A related thing
that we've done over the years has
been an ESL class for parents, focused
on building their capacity as education
partners and building an understanding
ofwhat our school system looks like
and what we can say, schooling in
the US. But we know that local schools
are very different from one another.
It's important to help families contextualize
and do that. Like Alana said, building
that family language connection,
helpingthem to see that school is not something
that they have to deal with only
through english speaking family members,
or in your case, their eldest child,
but that they can interact directly
andconfidently with people in the school
for the betterment of their students.
Another thing that we've done is
building peer connections. And so
there's an after school club that
meets called peer leaders, where
students, typically from refugee
backgrounds, get together and enjoy
sometimes social activities, sometimes
learning activities. But all with
that idea of, here are some people,
I'll go back to what you said earlier,
that are trusted, knowledgeable,
andavailable. And so here's the person
you can ask about how do we navigate
dating relationships in this context,
and how do we do the college application
process and what classes should I
take? And should I avoid the. All
those things that are a part of not
only your success, but also your
feeling of belonging and your feeling
of inclusion rather than marginalization?
(29:09):
Yeah. What I'm hearing isthat, number one is belonging, making
sure that you know that, hey, I belong
here as well, and I'm not an outsider.
And I think that's. Yeah, that's
something that I think people who
listen to this episode will really
resonate with. So thank you so much,
Alana and Jeremy, is there anything
elsethat you want to share? Any exciting
things happening for the future?
(29:39):
Yeah, I mean, I think it'snice to be able to. As I mentioned,
thestudy's been going on for, I think,
seven years, and we're kind of in
that closing year. And so it's nice
to be able to reflect on kind of
the evolution of the study and all
the different things that we've kind
of learned and the insights. One
thing we didn't get to talk about
aresome actual interventions that came
out of the findings that we've kind
of piloted in different settings.
So, youknow, a peer kind of social support
life skills intervention, a photovoice
intervention where students are kind
of sharing their voice and experiences
through picture taking. And I think
there are plans, hopefully, to. To
pilot and evaluate these on a larger
scale across the country. So we're
keeping our fingers crossed that,
youknow, that will come through and
we'll really be able to do that and
ensure that these interventions are
getting to more students. So that's,
Ithink, hopefully a next step that
isin our future kind of building on
salama.
(30:37):
Yay.
Yeah. This study has been justan incredible experience for me personally,
and getting to connect with people
whocare about some of the things that
Icare about most deeply and to do
good and important work. And so I
just want to celebrate the whole
team. And certainly you can find
outmore about the Salama study as well
as the findings, as well as best
practices or promising practices
onlinethrough the website. But I just want
to encourage everybody who's listening
tothis and who cares about global health
to find your network, put your ripples
out there, and connect with people,
because there's a lot of great work
happening, and you're going to. You're
going to go further and longer by
connecting with people who care about
the same things you care about. So
I celebrate everyone who is doing
something to make the world a better
place. Thank you.
(31:30):
Thank you for listening tothis episode. If you'd like to learn
more about today's topic and guest,
head over to the show notes linked
inthe description of this episode.
Thereyou can get access to resources,
links,and ways you can get involved in
the pursuit for global health. And
if you loved this episode, don't
forget to write me a review on Apple
Podcasts and rate the podcast on
Spotify. It helps me get in front
ofmore people just like you and continues
to elevate the causes we are so passionate
about. I'll see you in the next one.
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