Innovations in immigrant mental health

Margaret (Maggie) Sullivan is an Instructor and Director of the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights Program on Immigrants and Unhoused Communities, a Distinguished Fellow of the National Academies of Practice (NAP) in Nursing, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN). She is a nationally board-certified family nurse practitioner dedicated to serving immigrant communities, especially those with precarious documentation status or at risk of homelessness. Maggie co-leads the Partnership for Community Mental Health and Immigrant Well-being with her colleague, Jocelyn Chu, a project which aims to examine the mental healthcare landscape in Massachusetts and learn from immigrant-led, culturally rooted, community-based approaches to mental health. She co-advises the Harvard Students Human Rights Collaborative (HSHRC) and conducts forensic medical evaluations for asylum with Harvard Medical School’s Asylum Clinic. In collaboration with the Initiative on Health & Homelessness, Maggie co-developed and co-teaches HPM 523: Homelessness and Health: Lessons from Health Care, Public Health, and Research.

Johanna Milord, Ph.D. (she/hers) is a lecturer in counseling psychology at Boston University Wheelock College and the Associate Director of the developing Counseling Psychology Training Center, working with fellow colleagues to form a community-based culturally responsive doctoral training clinic. Dr. Milord’s research focuses on how race, gender, class and immigrant background interact with career outcomes for youth and general mental health for populations of color. She is also interested in the racial ethnic identity development and acculturation processes for Black American and immigrant populations. As a predominantly qualitative researcher, Dr. Milord embraces the ability of storytelling in disenfranchised collectives as a mode of sharing power in her scholarship. Prior to academia, Dr. Milord completed pre- and postdoctoral psychology training with the Boston University Center for Multicultural Training in Psychology in integrated behavioral health at primary care, pediatrics, refugee women and community health settings. Other professional interests include group and family therapy, school-based mental health, movement-based interventions and faith-based community outreach.

Dr. Sokoto completed her pre- and postdoctoral clinical training at Boston Medical Center/Boston University. She received her doctorate in counseling psychology from West Virginia University in 2023. As an advocate for health equity, her dissertation looked at racism in US dental care settings and its relationship to dental anxiety and dental visits. Her findings deepened her interest in anxiety disorders among people of African descent. Her current research interest is: (1) understanding traumatic stress in people of African descent; (2) culturally responsive tailoring of existing evidence-based interventions for treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); and (3) studying the implementation of evidence-based PTSD treatments in group format. As a T32 fellow in the BUMC-MGH Global Psychiatry Clinical Research Training Program, Dr. Sokoto is collaborating with mental health researchers and providers in Kenya (Aga Khan University) to advance the discourse on trauma exposure and PTSD interventions for Kenyan youth. Dr. Sokoto provides group-based Trauma/PTSD treatment at Boston Medical Center’s Immigrant & Refugee Health Center. She has lived and worked in three continents, speaks three languages, and identifies as a global citizen.

Audrey Montgomery, MSW (She/Her) is the Program Coordinator for the Refugee Women’s Health Clinic (RWHC) at Boston Medical Center (BMC). She holds a Masters in Social Work focused on global social work and community change. She has experience as a medical case manager for the clinic and as a research associate for Boston College, where she contributed to their refugee portfolio. She is deeply passionate about better understanding and equitably addressing the needs of newcomer communities.