In this keynote, Liliana shares insights from research, clinical examples, and insights from her own journey to widen your cultural lens and shape how you work with your clients.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

• Understand some of the experience and challenges for immigrants and refugees.

• How to support immigrant and refugee clients with a process of grieving – becoming aware of their journey, and giving language to organize what they are going through (e.g. their emotions, needs and hopes).

• The nervous system experience of immigrants/refugees and what it means for their identity and their internal/external sense of safety.

• The perceptions of immigrants and refugees from the Synergetic Play Therapy concept of the 4 threats to the brain – physical safety, perceptions of the unknown, incongruence in the environment, and shoulds/unmet expectations.

• How to hold the family when there has been intergenerational disruptions and support them in repairing the ruptures and coming back together;

• The crisis that an immigrant or refugee is faced with regarding their “global perspective” – their view of self, view of others, and view of the world.

• How to hold space for clients with the intention of helping them answer the questions: “Who am I?”, “What do I want?”, “What is important to me?”, “What are my values?”, and “How can I be myself in my many worlds/cultures?”

In this keynote, Liliana shares insights from research, clinical examples, and insights from her own journey to explore:

• How the act of crossing borders and adapting to the host countries affects the mental health of child and adult migrants.

• How exposure to traumatic events often faced, such as exposure to violence, loss, uncertainty and displacement, influences the way migrants relate to others and view themselves, both in relation to their new communities and in their places of origin.

• How different cultures process and express trauma, the role of social support systems in healing, and the impact of societal attitudes (like xenophobia or discrimination) on the mental health of migrants

• The challenges migrants face in forming new attachments and assimilating into the host country while maintaining connections to their homelands, culture, and family left behind, and how the memories of lost attachments continue to influence their lives.

• The psychological processes involved in integrating aspects of the original and host cultures and how this dual identity influences one’s sense of self and belonging.

• The importance of community networks, cultural practices, and psychological interventions in helping migrants establish a sense of belonging and stability in their new environments and addressing the lingering effects of trauma.

This presentation aims to create a compassionate space for participants to gain a deeper curiosity of the complexities surrounding immigration and how play can be used as a means of empowerment and healing by examining individual differences and diverse perspectives.

As a result of this presentation, participants will be able to:

• Discuss the distinct challenges and successes experienced by immigrants/refugees as they navigate their journey in a new country

• Assess the role of play in promoting resilience and facilitating cultural integration among individuals in diverse communities

• Demonstrate at least one way to support immigrants with play