The Impact of Working with Forced Migrants in the Context of Graduate Research Training

Researchers, including graduate students, who work with refugees and asylum seekers, are exposed to narratives of torture, trauma, loss, and distress. This paper features the testimonies of the authors as doctoral students and mental health researchers-in-training-as well as their supervisors-regarding their research with the immigrant community in an underserved area on the Texas U.S.-Mexico border, a popular migratory entry point for Central American immigrants seeking asylum in the United States. This paper aimed to bear witness to the emotional impact that working with forced migrants may have on researchers by describing the experiences of doctoral students conducting research with asylum seekers in the context of their graduate training in clinical psychology. The authors' narratives highlight that conducting research with forced migrants is challenging, but also an enriching and rewarding experience. Graduate students and researchers working with this population need to be aware of the emotional impact of this type of work on trainees and supervisors alike and the inherent risk of vicarious traumatization. Drawing from the Cognitive Processing Theory model of posttraumatic growth (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2004), the authors propose that engaging in reflective practice and meaning-making processes may assist researchers-in-training connect to and acknowledge the meaningful aspects of their work. Ultimately, these practices may counterbalance the difficulties of conducting research with trauma exposed forced migrants in the United States, as evidenced in the authors' testimonies.