Psychodynamic Work with Immigrants and First-Generation Patients

Psychodynamic Work with Immigrants and First-Generation Patients: Challenges and Possibilities

Co-Hosted by the Calgary Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Education Foundation and University of Calgary Department of Psychiatry

This event provides clinicians with essential tools and insights for working effectively with immigrant populations and their families. The event will include immersive experiences, interactive activities, as well as psychodynamic approaches to better understand the immigrant experience. The workshop will cover practical strategies for culturally responsive care, address unconscious processes in the immigrant psyche, and offer techniques to navigate cultural bereavement, nostalgia, and mourning. Clinicians will also examine self-states, dissociation, and intersectionality, fostering skills to adapt their practices and meet the diverse needs of bilingual and bicultural individuals.

Featuring: María Verónica Laguna, LCSW

Maria Laguna (she/her/ella) is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist in private practice in New York City. She is a faculty member and clinical supervisor at the Metropolitan Center for Training in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (MITPP). Maria co-authored the book "From Grad School to Private Practice: a Roadmap for Mental Health Clinicians" (2023), and a book chapter "Exploring Immigrant’s Self-States from an Intersectionality Lens: Finding Liberation in the 'In-Between'" (in press).

Maria is the founder of Bicultural Collective, a virtual space that offers resources and support for clinicians and patients from multicultural backgrounds. She has taught immigration classes for multiple Universities (NYU, Columbia University, Mercy College) and other institutions.

L earning Objectives

Upon completion of this seminar, participants will be able to:

• Outline essential therapeutic tools for working effectively with immigrant populations and their families.
• Identify practical strategies for culturally responsive care.
• Identify common challenges experienced by immigrants and their families, as well as their impact on mental health.
• Recognize and address unconscious processes (e.g., fantasies, conflicts, desires, defenses) activated within the immigrant psyche and their impact in the family.
• Apply technical approaches to support cultural bereavement, nostalgia, and mourning in therapeutic settings.
• Identify psychological strengths common to immigrants and their families
• Describe self-states, dissociation, and their manifestations within the context of intersectionality and immigration.
• Enhance culturally responsive care by identifying and challenging personal biases and adapting clinical practices to the diverse needs of immigrant populations and their families.
• Apply practical guidelines for working effectively with bilingual patients.

Organizing Committee

Dr. Nareesa Ali MD, FRCPC

Dr. Janet de Groot MMedSc, MD, FRCPC

Dr. Heather Scott BSP, MD, FRCPC

Dr. Elizabeth Wallace MD, FRCPC, FIPA

Code of Conduct

Attendees must agree not to record or share any confidential information shared the day of the event. Recorded sessions may be viewed during the workshop.

The organizers of the CPPEF Annual Conference are committed to providing a welcoming, safe, and harassment-free conference experience for everyone. We do not tolerate harassment of conference participants in any form. Disrespectful or discriminatory actions, language, or imagery with regard to race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, family status, disability, or genetic characteristics is not appropriate. All participants, including speakers, facilitators, and organizers, are subject to the code of conduct.

Conference participants violating the code of conduct may be asked to leave the conference at the discretion of the conference organizers.

Refund Policy

Deadline for a refund: May 23, 2025. After this date, refunds will not be issued. EventBrite Fees are non-refundable.

Agenda

9:00 – 10:30

• Speaker presentation
• Agenda overview
• Immersive and interactive activity: "What is Lost? What is Gained?" An exploration of the immigrant experience
• Discussion: open dialogue to share reflections

10:30 – 10:45 Break

10:45 – 11:30

Understanding The Immigrant Experience

• Examining the mental health impacts of voluntary and involuntary displacement
• Psychic journeys of the immigrant
• Fantasies and defenses activated in the immigrant’s mind
• Interactive discussion

11:30 – 12:00

Mourning and Cultural Bereavement : Helping Immigrant Patients Navigate Loss In The Immigration Process

• What is mourned?
• Implications for exiles and refugees
• Clinical examples
• Technical approaches to working with nostalgia and mourning
• Interactive discussion

12:00 – 1:00 Lunch

1:00 – 2:30

Being One While Feeling Many: The Immigrant’s Multiple Selves

• Self-States, trauma, and dissociation, its manifestations in immigrants and their families
• Clinical examples and technical considerations
• Intersectionality: a vital lens for identity integration
• Interactive discussion

2:30 – 2:45 Break

2:45 – 4:00

Living In-Between: Children Of Immigrants And Their Multicultural Identity

• Definition and distinct challenges
• “What the grandfather wants to forget, the grandchild wants to remember”: intergenerational transmission of trauma

Enhancing Your Assessment Toolbox

• Nuances in psychodynamic work with bicultural patients
• Conducting a psycholinguistic history
• Practical guidelines when working with bilingual patients
• Best practices when working with interpreters and/or bilingual clients

4:00 – 4:30

Final Discussion

• Reflection on key learnings
• Q&A session with speaker
• Resource exchange