Thursday, January 14th, 2027 6:00 PM EST -9:00 PM EST Neerja Singh
Yahoo!
Description
Beyond the Diagnosis: Human-Centered Clinical Practice with Immigrant and Refugee Clients
Immigrant and refugee clients are often assessed through clinical frameworks that prioritize symptoms and diagnoses while overlooking migration history, cultural identity, legal vulnerability, family relationships, and the social conditions shaping distress. This interactive training invites clinicians to move beyond the diagnosis and engage clients through human-centered, culturally responsive, and ethically grounded practice. Participants will examine how pre-migration experiences, migration journeys, resettlement stress, acculturation, discrimination, language barriers, immigration status, and social determinants of health influence mental health and access to care.
Through reflection, clinical vignettes, and applied discussion, participants will examine clinician positionality, power, privilege, and implicit bias while learning practical strategies for culturally responsive assessment and intervention. Participants will practice distinguishing psychiatric symptoms from cultural expressions of distress and understandable responses to displacement, using the DSM-5-TR Cultural Formulation Interview, working effectively with interpreters, identifying client and community strengths, and adapting evidence-informed interventions. The training emphasizes cultural humility, curiosity, shared decision-making, ethical advocacy, and seeing each client as a whole person whose migration story, relationships, strengths, and aspirations are central to clinical care.
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About the Presenter:
Dr. Neerja Singh, PhD, LICSW, LADC, is a clinician, educator, and public-sector behavioral health leader. A first-generation immigrant from India, she brings lived experience and expertise in culturally responsive clinical practice, mental health and substance use services, social determinants of health, and systems advocacy. She teaches clinical practice with immigrant and refugee clients and other graduate social work courses at the University of St. Thomas and National University. Dr. Singh is also a board-approved clinical supervisor, a 2023 Bush Fellow, and a leader of the NASW-Minnesota Ethics Support Group. Her work centers human dignity, cultural humility, ethical practice, and equitable access to care.
Learning Objectives:
- Identify how migration experiences, immigration status, culture, and social determinants of health influence clinical presentation, mental health, and access to care.
- Apply culturally responsive assessment strategies, including the DSM-5-TR Cultural Formulation Interview, to distinguish psychiatric symptoms from cultural expressions of distress and responses to displacement or adversity.
- Develop human-centered intervention strategies that incorporate cultural humility, clinician self-awareness, effective interpreter use, shared decision-making, and the strengths of immigrant and refugee clients, families, and communities.
Agenda:
|
Time |
Topic and Activities |
|
0:00–0:20 |
Welcome and Clinical Context — Introductions, learning objectives, key terms, and examination of why immigrant and refugee experiences matter in clinical practice. Opening reflection: “Who am I, and what do I bring into the clinical space?†|
|
0:20–0:50 |
Understanding the Migration Story — Pre-migration, migration, and post-migration experiences; forced displacement; loss; resettlement; acculturation; immigration status; family separation; and resilience. Brief migration-story exercise. |
|
0:50–1:20 |
Immigration as a Social Determinant of Mental Health — Effects of legal vulnerability, language access, discrimination, housing, employment, healthcare access, and community belonging on distress and service engagement. |
|
1:20–1:50 |
Clinician Positionality and Cultural Humility — Power, privilege, implicit bias, cultural assumptions, use of self, and the difference between cultural competence and cultural humility. Individual reflection and small-group discussion. |
|
1:50–2:05 |
Break — Not included in instructional time. |
|
2:05–2:45 |
Culturally Responsive Assessment and Diagnosis — Cultural expressions of distress, limitations of standardized tools, risks of over-pathologizing, differential diagnosis, and application of the DSM-5-TR Cultural Formulation Interview. Case-vignette activity. |
|
2:45–3:15 |
Working Effectively with Interpreters — Preparing for interpreter-mediated sessions, confidentiality, therapeutic alliance, triadic communication, boundaries, power dynamics, and common clinical errors. |
|
3:15–3:55 |
Human-Centered and Evidence-Informed Intervention — Adapting evidence-based approaches, balancing fidelity with cultural relevance, incorporating family and community strengths, shared decision-making, and avoiding the imposition of dominant cultural assumptions. Applied case discussion. |
|
3:55–4:15 |
Ethical Advocacy and Clinical Action Planning — Connecting clinical care with systems advocacy, identifying barriers to equitable care, developing an individual practice commitment, questions, and evaluation. |
Accreditation - This Webinar Offers 3 Live Interactive Continuing Education Credits
- CE You! is an approved sponsor of the Maryland Board of Social Work Examiners for continuing education credits for licensed social workers in Maryland.
CE You! maintains responsibility for this program. - Therapist Express is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed creative arts therapists. #CAT-0122.
- Therapist Express is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed marriage and family therapists #MFT-0129.
- Therapist Express is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors. #MHC-0325.
- Therapist Express is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0275.
- Therapist Express is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0774.
This presentation is open to:
- Behavior Analysts
- Social Workers
- Professional Counselors
- Therapists
- Psychologists
- Licensed Mental Health Practitioners
- Medical Doctors and Other Health Professionals
- Other professionals interacting with populations engaged in mental health based services
This online class is offered at an intermediate level, and is beneficial for an intermediate level clinician:
- New practitioners who wish to gain enhanced insight surrounding the topic
- Experienced practitioners who seek to increase and expand fundamental knowledge surrounding the subject matter
- Advanced practitioners seeking to review concepts and reinforce practice skills and/or access additional consultation
- Managers seeking to broaden micro and/or macro perspectives
Additional information
- Refunds: Registrants who are unable to attend a NEFESH seminar or live webinars may ask for, and will receive, a credit or refund (your choice). Refund requests will be processed within 3 business days. When an attendee knows in advance that they are unable to attend we ask that they inform NEFESH ahead of time by emailing secretary@nefeshinternational.org or by calling or texting 201-384-0084 this allows us to free up the spot in the training in the event that a training is at or near capacity.
- Disability Access: If you require ADA accommodations, please contact our office 30 days or more before the event. We cannot ensure accommodations without adequate prior notification.
- Please Note: Licensing Boards change regulations often, and while we attempt to stay abreast of their most recent changes, if you have questions or concerns about this course meeting your specific board’s approval, we recommend you contact your board directly.
- The grievance policy for trainings provided by NEFESH is available here
- Satisfactory Completion: Certificates are available after satisfactory course completion in your account or by clicking here
- Participants will receive their certificate electronically upon completion of the webinar and course evaluation form.
- There is no conflict of interest or commercial support for this program.
- System Requirements: Any device (such as a computer, tablet, or phone), Dual-Core 2 GHz or higher processor, and at least 4 GB of RAM capable of running a Zoom session, along with a stable internet connection.
- Although early registration is recommended for this class in order to ensure the best experience, attendees may register and join until the start of the program