/ SSWorks /
/ Student Focus /
BY TYNA N PO WER
Understanding Fears
Olivia Mora-Lett, M.S.W., LCSW, Ph.D. 2015 Cohort
Insights into serving Latinx immigrant populations Born in Agua Prieta Sonora, a Mexican border town, Olivia Mora-Lett, a member of the Ph.D. 2015 cohort, has experienced both sides of the border— and uses that insight to inform her clinical practice and her research. “I began community advocacy and volunteer work in my college years in Phoenix, Arizona, helping local grassroots groups such as Legal Observers, No Mas Muertes and Mujeres Unidas,” said Mora-Lett. “I quickly realized the disparities for immigrants in mental health. That inspired me to dedicate my clinical work to nonprofit mental health settings serving men and women from Latin America.” Now living in New York City, MoraLett provides clinical services to immigrants and refugees in nonprofit community settings and at the Ecuadorian Consulate. She specializes in PTSD and complex trauma, particularly with cisgender and transgender immigrant women from Latin America. “De-stigmatizing mental health is essential to offering culturally responsive and successful treatment to immigrants,” said Mora-Lett. “Now more than ever, it is crucial to provide consistent, predictable and
De-stigmatizing mental health is essential to offering culturally responsive and successful treatment to immigrants. —OLIVIA MORA-LETT
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S M I T H COL L E G E SCHO O L FO R SO CIAL WO RK
non-judgmental sanctuary spaces where our immigrants can feel safe and welcomed.” Stigma is not the only barrier to treatment, though. “We need more bilingual social workers,” Mora-Lett said. “If you are in private practice, provide sliding scale fees for immigrants.” Mora-Lett encourages clinicians to remember that transitions, losses and changes are part of the immigrant experience. “Learn from your clients as experts of their own stories, ask questions, be curious and get creative in the ways you engage immigrant clients and their families,” said Mora-Lett. “The clinical work typically unfolds at a slower pace—be ok with creating a holding environment to build trust and rapport.” Social workers also must become advocates and allies. “Building relationships and collaborations with local organizations, volunteering or getting involved in community advocacy is essential for social workers to understand and challenge the systems of oppression and discrimination faced by immigrants.” “Many people in our immigrant communities, particularly those who are undocumented, live in daily fear,” said Mora-Lett. “They fear they will get a knock on the door that will separate them from their families, they fear deportation and they fear simply existing.” Mora-Lett believes that social workers can help eradicate these fears. “We need to continue to unite and organize—and really advocate to change the immigration narrative,” said Mora-Lett. “We need to continue to disrupt oppressive systems and send messages of hope and support for others to feel safe to come out of the shadows.” ◆
HONING HIS SKILLS
In his first clinical placement after a year of coursework on the Smith campus, Sebastian Wheeler, M.S.W. ’18 found himself in a child and adolescent outpatient psychiatric unit at Maine Medical Center in Portland, engaged in individual psychotherapy primarily with teenagers. “There’s a certain level of overwhelm that can come from taking on a role that can have such meaning, when you’re bearing some sense of practical responsibility for someone’s well-being.” Wheeler said the combination of theory, learned during his first summer on the Smith campus, with the attentive practice supervision he received while working at the Maine hospital, made the experience rewarding while giving him invaluable opportunities to hone clinical skills. And even while he was acutely aware of the important role a therapist can play in an individual’s life, he maintained a sense that the role should not be blown out of proportion. “It’s important to give people agency, to empower them. If you start to see yourself as a savior, then likely what you’re doing is disempowering them,” said Wheeler. Wheeler maintained a caseload of ten teenagers and their families, and he also co-facilitated a group with fellow SSW student Hayley Fitzgerald, M.S.W. ’17. For Wheeler, having another Smith student nearby provided welcome opportunities to discuss their day-to-day work. He said it was rewarding to wrestle with bringing Smith’s psychodynamic lens to work with clients within a medical model framework. But, he said, the intensive coursework over the summer before his placement gave him a solid framework on which to rely. “The big thing for me was beginning to explore ways of synthesizing all the coursework from Smith with my experience sitting with people,” he said. “The most important thing right out of the gate is to cultivate the right attitude, and that is one of humility and warmth and empathy,” he said. “This work can be such a vehicle for human connection.”—Laurie Loisel
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