Community-Based Engagement with Immigrant & Refugee Families
Professionals working with families recognize the impact of one’s culture and heritage on family outcomes. One group that experiences unique challenges are those who have immigrated to our country. Learning a new culture while maintaining one’s own heritage can be an obstacle that is particularly difficult for this community. Understanding how to support these families while also promoting the strengths that have developed when they were in their country-of-origin is a skill that is beneficial to all professionals working with families.
Instead of merely learning about immigrants and refugees, this webinar is a unique opportunity to consider how educators and practitioners can learn with immigrant and refugee participants in community-based learning environments. Techniques will first be shared on how to become aware of one’s own worldview, meanings, and behavioral norms and how those affect the guidance we provide families. Skills will then be taught on how to balance personal perspectives while being open to diverse worldviews, meanings, and behavioral norms. Specifically, the presenters will provide attendees with the skills they need to use an intercultural pedagogical approach when working with immigrants and refugee learners.
Overall, attendees will leave this webinar with the ability to:
- Recognize the unique strengths and challenges that immigrants and refugees bring into learning environments;
- Identify potential professional 'blind spots' that could hinder effective intercultural interactions;
- Add new strategies to bolster your evidence-based practice for teaching immigrants and refugees.
Approved for 1 hour of CFLE continuing education credit.
About the Presenters
Catherine Solheim, Ph.D., is an NCFR Fellow and professor in the Department of Family Social Science at the University of Minnesota. She teaches graduate-level family theory courses and undergraduate courses on personal and family finances and global and diverse family systems. She has led 12 learning abroad courses to Thailand, focused on families, communities, and culture. Solheim’s research centers on family resource management and the ways that culture and socioeconomic status affect the diverse ways families make decisions about and manage scarce financial resources. She has conducted studies on financial decision-making in Thai families, family resource and relationship decisions in transnational Mexican families in Minnesota, values and financial practices of two-generation Hmong immigrant families, and most recently, stress, resilience, and financial adjustments of recently resettled Karen refugee families. In 2019, Solheim piloted a culturally and contextually adapted financial education program for Karen refugee young adults in collaboration with the Karen Organization of Minnesota (KOM). Until COVID halted the project, she was training KOM staff and testing a training manual with the goal of transferring knowledge and skills to the community so that they could assume ownership of the program, integrate financial education into their program portfolio, and thus, enhance the long-term sustainability of this work.
Zamzam Dini, M.S., is a pre-licensed couple and family therapy doctoral-level intern at the Minnesota Trauma Recovery Institute (MN-TRI). She is currently pursuing her doctoral degree in Couple and Family Therapy, the Department of Family Social Science at the University of Minnesota. Her research interests center around the impact of the intergenerational transmission of trauma on refugee individuals and multigenerational families. She is passionate about the impact of culture, equity, and social justice within the practice and supervision of Marriage and Family Therapy. As a 2nd generation Somali immigrant, Zamzam is also committed to supporting BIPOC MFT students and pre-licensed professionals within the field of MFT. Zamzam co-created the African-American Pan-African Student & Alumni Association at Saint Mary's to create a safe space to build community & mentorship for Black MFTs.
On-Demand Webinar Recording
Even if you can't watch this webinar live, your registration will still grant you access to watch the recording at your convenience.
Classroom Use
Classroom and departmental use licenses allow faculty members to share the video in class or embed the video in their online learning management system. Departmental use licenses allow more than on faculty to use the webinar in their class. We request that links or downloads are not shared with students.
License for classroom use by one professor is available for $134 for NCFR members, $204 for nonmembers.
License for departmental use (multiple professors) is available for $184 NCFR member, $324 nonmember.
Departmental license for CFLE-approved programs is $159.
