June Issue

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In this Issue

	Program Client Tells Her Story at the Office of Refugee Resettlement 2008 National Consultation
	Staff Profile: Dr. Leanh Nguyen

In Other News

On June 15, 16 and 17, the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival will present the U.S. premiere of “The Dictator Hunter,” by Dutch director Klaartje Quirijns. The film explores the efforts of Reed Brody of Human Rights Watch, and Souleymane Guengueng, a Chadian torture victim, to bring former president Hissène Habré of Chad to trial for killing thousands of his own countrymen in the 1980s. To purchase tickets click here.

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Program Client Tells Her Story at the Office of Refugee Resettlement 2008 National Consultation

On May 28-29 the Office of Refugee Resettlement held its 2008 National Consultation. They invited PSOT client Mariama (last name suppressed to protect privacy) to join a panel of "New Americans" who discussed how they came to the United States, the services they received from ours and other programs, and the process of healing/rehabilitation.

Mariama spoke movingly about fleeing the brutal civil war in Sierra Leone, arriving by boat, meeting a good Samaritan who bought her shoes and helped her get to New York City, living in a shelter, and going through the long and tedious process of seeking asylum. For Mariama, the hardest part of her ordeal was her separation from her children and not knowing where they might be. She received medical and psychological services from PSOT and Nah We Yone, social and legal services from African Services Committee and Human Rights First, and wonderful pro bono representation from attorneys Peter Hillman and Carson Pulley at Chadbourne and Parke.

Joining Mariama on the panel were refugees from Sudan and Kosovo, and an asylee from Mauritania. After hearing of her reunification with her children and (now) two grandchildren, Atok, a former Lost Boy from Sudan who had spoken of his hopes and prayers that his family is still alive, gave Mariama a big hug. Everyone who spoke to Mariama also complimented her on her beautiful bright orange African attire.

Mariama did some sightseeing in Washington DC for a couple of hours, until her train returned to New York City. She plans to come back to visit with her family.

Staff Profile: Dr. Leanh Nguyen

Many people who work with refugee populations have a particular and personal reason for choosing such a career path? What was yours?

I grew up under the Communist regime in Vietnam. In 1979, when I was eleven years old, my mother and I escaped as ‘boat people,’ seeking asylum in the United States. Several of my uncles who had been in the pro-American army were sent to Communist re-education camp, where they were subjected to a regimen of forced labor and torture for 4-5 years. My mother and I spent 16 months in a refugee camp and the next six years in France before we were granted asylum in the U.S.

What led you to the field of psychology?

Without being conscious of it, I had always wanted to get underneath the surface of how and why people have to face challenging and difficult things. In NYU’s Clinical Psychology program I worked with patients with severe psychopathology. It felt very real to treat people who were on the very edge of sanity.

How did that background prepare you for your work at PSOT?

Patients at PSOT are often right at the edge of life and death emotionally when they come to us.

How did you start working specifically with the program’s LGBT population?

I started noting a number of patients who fit a particular profile—namely a long, severe background of sexual abuse. They not only presented symptoms of PTSD, but at the same time they were coming to terms with their sexual identity, and their status as illegal immigrants. The program encouraged me to develop a treatment plan to help these patients specifically, and I realized that many of our interns and externs expressed interested in this type of work.

Was this a difficult process?

These patients, mostly gay males in their late 20s and early 30s, had to deal with their own homophobia and fear. Many of them were quite hesitant to participate in group therapy, as they were afraid of being around other gay patients—the idea of being in public was scary. For most of them, therapy was the first time coming out. They did not see themselves as “survivors of torture.” They did not initially acknowledge that their human rights had been violated. If it weren’t for their immigration lawyers, they may have never come to the program. Getting them to articulate that their humanity was consistently violated because of their sexuality was a painful, but valuable experience.

How do you think these patients’ experience differs from that of our other clients?

For all of our patients, PSOT represents a cocoon, a protected space in the larger world. But many of our patients also receive support from their own immigrant communities. For our gay patients, that added support is not available. These men can’t go back to their communities, and they also don’t feel identified with the gay community in New York City.

You are trained as a psychoanalyst. How does that approach work with PSOT’s client population?

In a nutshell, this approach works for three broad reasons. Psychoanalysis advocates the task of making meaning out of experience. Our clients come to us in a post-traumatic state, as if a boulder has shattered everything in their lives. Nothing makes sense. The recovery process is about piecing their lives back together, recovering their lost sense of selves. Second, this process requires a commitment to go below the surface. Patients have a mind—interesting things happen there—they are agents of their own experience. For many of them, their mind is their worst enemy—therapy helps them “make friends” with their mind. Thirdly, psychoanalysis is the only approach that pays careful attention to loss and mourning. It involves a fundamental acknowledgement that difficulties in living have to do with the harsh cruel realties of life. You can be more creative when you can mourn. Patients must learn how to move beyond a state of grief and mourning and for them the language of psychoanalysis is a relief.

Can you talk a little about your international work?

Last year Dr. Andrew Rasmussen, John Wilkinson and I conducted interviews in refugee camps in Eastern Chad for HIAS . This was an extremely powerful experience for me—to return to a refugee camp. After twenty years, I felt like I had finally come home, huddling on the dirt floor, being around displaced people, waiting, not knowing when one would be re-settled. It felt like water and air to me. It made me think about what it means to be a psychologist, where and how I could intervene. It was humbling to be there with “expertise.” There was not really much that I could do for families living under a piece of tarp, knowing that their relatives had been slaughtered—it really made me think about the limits of human endurance. On the other hand, that experience made me feel even more committed to my profession. I realized that the best thing is to respect natural human connection—humanity in another person. Psychology is about cultivating humanity in another person. Through therapy, people can recover a lot of themselves. This relationship promotes emotional aliveness, gratitude, things that make us human.

What is most gratifying about your work?

As a psychologist, I can help patients reclaim their mind and humanity. After the experience of persecution and violation leaves our patients de-humanized, stripped of their rights, I can help them recover their creative minds, to feel like they have lives that they can control. They can be authors of their own experience. They realize that their sadness does have meaning—that they can mine it.

Please view Dr. Leanh Nguyen's full biography on our website . On 8/14/2008 Dr. Leanh Nguyen will be part of a panel at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association, discussing ethical dilemmas and standards for psychologists who are involved in international work. The panel will appear on the program of the APA as "International Ethics Rounds--Dilemmas and Guidance for Consultants, Clinicians, Investigators, and Educators." It is scheduled from 1-2:50pm. Dr. Nguyen's particular presentation will be titled "Psychologist Abroad: Borders, Politics, and Allegiance."