Join Lisa Dion for a most beautiful and eye-opening (and, unfortunately, so relevant to what’s happening in the world right now) conversation with someone very dear to her – Liliana Baylon is a bilingual (English-Spanish), bicultural therapist serving the Denver Metro Area and Certified Synergetic Play Therapist/ Supervisor/ Consultant.

In today’s episode, Lisa and Liliana talk about understanding the experience of immigrant and refugee families, and some really important things to be aware of that will widen your cultural lens and shape how you work with your clients.

Liliana will share insights from her own journey, as well as how this has led to her interest and niche in treating couples and children who have experienced trauma/abuse and multicultural issues from an attachment lens.

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, perceived challenges, 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 SPT 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; and
  • 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?”

🎧 As you listen, you’re invited to pause and notice what comes up for you … Noticing moments where you might feel a need to advocate, fix, or rescue … And if you do, consider, as Liliana shares, what possibly might we be taking away from our clients including how this may impact their journey to empowerment – wow, just so powerful!!

Additional Resources:

Click above, listen here on Apple Podcasts, or subscribe to the podcast here!