IMPACT™ Immigration Training Program

Immigration Mental Health Evaluations Psychological, Legal, and Cultural Factors

Greetings from the IMPACT™ Director of Learning & Development, Marina Valdez, Ph.D!

I am a bilingual licensed psychologist with specialty areas in Latinx psychology, culturally-oriented mental health, and trauma-informed approaches in psychological services. I have over 15 years of experience as a clinician, including providing training and supervision support to emerging clinicians.  These skill sets and focus areas dovetailed perfectly to bring me to immigration evaluation work in my practice, and then to teaching established clinicians to add this specialty area to their own practices.

At IMPACT™, our mission has always been to increase immigrant and refugee clients’ access to high-quality immigration evaluations. We have done so through funding the cost of this service for those who need the financial assistance, and through teaching more clinicians to provide this important service to their communities. Collectively, IMPACT™ team members have written over 1000 evaluation reports over the years! We are proud of what we do, and we would love to have you join the training program. We believe you will not only receive state-of-the-art training incorporating the most up-to-date ethical, sociopolitical, and legal/forensic considerations, but you will also join a group of clinicians who value culturally-responsive and trauma-informed practices.

​​​​The overall mission of IMPACT™ is to offer immigrants and refugees psychological documentation of their trauma and hardship as part of their legal pursuit to live where they and their families feel safe and can thrive. IMPACT™ offers immigrants and refugees access to high-quality psychological evaluations regardless of their ability to pay.

Overview

The IMPACT™ Immigration Evaluation Training Program provides intensive interactive training for licensed mental health professionals in the specialty of psychological evaluations for immigrants and refugees. Participants of the comprehensive program receive professional connections and consultation with a network of experienced mental health professionals engaged in this work. Including this specialty in your practice provides more access to high quality mental health evaluations for immigration and refugees.

You can sign up for the overall comprehensive program listed below or individual components of the program.

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“I am learning so much through the IMPACT™ training program. It has provided me with the education and training necessary to conduct psychological evaluations for immigration confidently and ethically. Dr. Moore and the IMPACT™ Team are incredibly warm, supportive, and knowledgeable. They create an environment where you can be vulnerable as you learn, and depend on one another for support and consultation.”
-IMPACT Immigration Training Program Trainee

Training Mission and Learning Objectives:

Our mission is to train licensed mental health professionals to provide high-quality psychological evaluations for immigrants and refugees. These evaluations document immigrant trauma and hardship, which then becomes the cornerstone of their legal application to remain in the U.S.

Learning Objectives:​​

1. Participants will identify legal and mental health concepts in immigration evaluations.
2. Participants will identify five immigration evaluation types and describe one assessment used to assess psychological functioning for each type of evaluation.
3. Participants will be able to explain the difference between advocacy and presenting clinical data and demonstrate how this informs report writing and court testimony for immigration purposes.
4. Participants will recognize areas for continued professional growth in immigration-focused evaluations.