Therapists Conducting Asylum Evaluations

The Modern Therapist's Survival Guide with Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy

An interview with Marc Sadoff, LCSW, about what therapists can do to support refugees seeking asylum in the United States. We talk about the qualifications therapists need to engage in the asylum evaluation process.

It’s time to reimagine therapy and what it means to be a therapist. We are human beings who can now present ourselves as whole people, with authenticity, purpose, and connection. Especially now, when therapists must develop a personal brand to market their practices.

To support you as a whole person and a therapist, your hosts, Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy talk about how to approach the role of therapist in the modern age.

Interview with Marc Sadoff, LCSW

Marc Sadoff, LCSW was licensed in 1985 and worked with the Program for Torture Victims Los Angeles from 1997 to 2001. Marc and his colleagues did psychological and medical evaluations to corroborate claims of torture for asylum seekers. In 2000, they presented a half-day workshop for Immigration Asylum Officers on the topic of credibility. They were acknowledged as contributors to a book edited by the Physicians for Human Rights called "A Health Professional’s Guide to Medical And Psychological Evaluations Of Torture" published in 2001. Marc has submitted over 100 psychological evaluations for immigration cases, and has been accepted as an ‘expert in traumatic stress’, 60 of the 60 times that he’s testified in court. Marc’s goal in providing training on asylum is to expand the pool of clinicians who can begin doing pro bono and low fee psychological evaluations for those fleeing injustice and terror. You can learn more about Marc here: www.realhope.com

In this episode we talk about:

• Marc’s entry into treating torture and asylum victims
• The difference between asylum evaluations and treatment
• What the asylum process looks like from asylee perspective and the clinician perspective
• The years long process that is asylum seeking, leading to communities requiring sponsorship while waiting for the process to be completed
• The clinician’s experience in the asylum process
• What is required to complete evaluations for asylum, looking at the practical steps to completing the report
• Qualifications for therapists completing asylum evaluations
• The current state of immigration and how it has impacted Marc’s practice, his personal takes on it
• The plight of unaccompanied minors who cross the border
• How therapists can get involved, as a citizen, as a clinician, as an asylum evaluator
• How therapists and social workers need to be cautious about what they present related to interviews outside of asylum evaluations

Resources mentioned:

We’ve pulled together any resources mentioned in this episode and put together some handy-dandy links.

Marc’s 7 hour course - Webinar on Asylum Evaluations: RealHope.com/webinar-training/

Marc’s information:

www.RealHope.com/webinar-training/ For info regarding the September training.

Email: [e-mail]

Twitter: @MarcSadoff

IF YOU’D LIKE THE EXTENSIVE RESOURCES THAT MARC PROVIDED US, PLEASE SEND US A QUICK EMAIL AND WE CAN FORWARD THE MULTI-PAGE DOCUMENT TO YOU: [e-mail]

Professional Organization Statements:

APA

NASW

CAMFT

AAMFT

America Academy of Pediatrics

Child’s World America Petition

Diane Feinstein’s Bill: Keep Families Together Act

Action Alert from Southern Poverty Law Center

RAICES

Immigration Resources:

https://www.psychologicalevaluationsforimmigrationcourt.net/blog/

IF YOU’D LIKE THE EXTENSIVE RESOURCES THAT MARC PROVIDED US (INCLUDING THE ONE ABOVE), PLEASE SEND US A QUICK EMAIL AND WE CAN FORWARD THE MULTI-PAGE DOCUMENT TO YOU: [e-mail]

Our Next Event:

The Therapy Reimagined Conference in Los Angeles in October 2018!!

Our new consultation services:

The Fifty-Minute Hour

Credits:

Voice Over by DW McCann https://www.facebook.com/McCannDW/

Music by Crystal Grooms Mangano http://www.crystalmangano.com/