Session: Service and Support Needs Among Migrating Groups across Settings: A Critical Examination of Opportunities, Barriers, and Outcomes (Society for Social Work and Research 23rd Annual Conference - Ending Gender Based, Family and Community Violence)

The destruction of support networks and service options have reverberating implications for people who migrate. Ruptures in family and community systems can lead to the immediate and long-term loss of resources and support embedded in relational networks. Global efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to (certain) migrating groups emphasize saving lives and creating long-term political solutions. Policy and practice thus overlook complex support needs shaped by individual experiences, intersecting identities, and structural forces at play. Empirical knowledge of support needs and service outcomes are therefore imperative to informing current and future efforts to re-conceptualize practice with migrating populations.

Drawing from four qualitative studies and a systematic review, this symposium examines formal and informal support people seek to meet pragmatic needs, alleviate suffering, and connect interpersonally in the context of migration. The first paper examines barriers to accessing services related to experiences of intimate partner violence among refugee women in a mid-western state in the United States. The second paper shares findings from a recent study, which explored the needs and access to services among asylum-seeking Latina women during and after release from immigrant detention in the United States. The third paper highlights the role a group based mental health intervention played in restoring social resources among Syrian refugees in Jordan. The fourth paper examines how Congolese women make meaning of formal and informal support options post-resettlement in the United States. Finally, the fifth paper shares findings from a systematized review of the academic literature about the settlement outcomes of immigrant and refugee women in Canada.

Drawing from global and local perspectives, all five of the oral presentations speak to the conference focus on gender-based, family, and community violence. Collectively, the symposium underscores the complicated nature of support needs and service provision, and advocates for bringing critical understanding to resource options for migrating populations through research and practice.