Lessons from the Playroom 116. Liliana Baylon: Expand Your Cultural Lens When Working with Immigrants & Refugees
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 about understanding the experience of immigrants and refugees.
Liliana Baylon is a bilingual (English-Spanish), bicultural therapist and Synergetic Play Therapist/Supervisor. And today she talks with Lisa 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 hear in Lisa's conversation with Liliana…
- Understand the experience and challenges of 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);
- Understand the nervous system experience of immigrants/refugees and what it means for their identity and their internal/external sense of safety;
- Learn 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;
- Understand 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!
Listen to today's episode and expand your cultural lens when working with immigrant and refugee clients/families - Take what Liliana shares and become a bit more sensitive, aware, and curious, as well as feel more resourced with your clients when normalizing and speaking to what the experience might have been for them.
*Liliana Baylon holds a Master's Degree of Science in Counseling/Marriage, Family, and Child Therapy in addition to being an AAMFT Approved Supervisor, Register Play Therapist - Supervisor, EMDRIA Approved Consultant, ICEEFT Certified EFT Therapist, EMDR Certified, Certified Synergetic Play Therapist - Consultant, Completed Level 2 Training in Gottman Method Couples Therapy, AF-CBT trained, and an Independent Facilitator of the Becoming a Love and Logic Parent Way.
Podcast Resources:
- Synergetic Play Therapy Institute
- Synergetic Play Therapy Learning Website
- FREE Resources to support you on your play therapy journey
- Aggression in Play Therapy: A Neurobiological Approach to Integrating Intensity
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