Overview: Learn to adapt the DBT skills COPE AHEAD and PLEASE specifically for undocumented clients experiencing chronic fear of ICE detention (these skills will also help you as providers too). This training combines evidence-based DBT techniques with culturally responsive approaches, addressing the unique mental health needs of clients whose immigration status creates ongoing traumatic stress. This training will also offer you skills for yourself as you navigate these difficult conversations and scenarios with the people you serve. Learning objectives: Cultural considerations when working with undocumented communities Discussion around Enhancing Evidence Based Practice with a Decolonizing lens Modifications to standard COPE AHEAD protocols for immigration-related fears Practical self-soothing skills Addressing intersectional trauma Dialectics of joy and fear as a tool to navigate these turbulent times GUEST: Sofia Mendoza LCSW author of "Healing From Racism Stress Book" Handouts: COPE ahead in Spanish & English Podcast Editors: https://www.sonivia.com/about Transcript: CSCSWSofiaFullEpisode [00:00:00] Hello, you're listening to the California Society of Clinical Social Work Podcast. This podcast offers educational content by providing clinical, social work, training, and information that builds professional practice competency for our members. Hello, my name is Dr. Veronica gon and I want to give you a brief introduction to Dialectical Behavior Therapy. Before we begin the interview and training for today, I wanna begin by providing a basic psychological definition of what dialectical means. It refers to a way of thinking that acknowledges the existence of opposing or contradictory ideas and seeks to find a balance or synthesis between them. It recognizes that two seemingly opposite ideas can both be true simultaneously. DBT was developed by psychologist Marsha Linnehan in the 1980s. It began as an effort to treat a highly suicidal individuals using traditional behavior therapies. But the [00:01:00] process wasn't straightforward. It was shaped by trial error and deep clinical insight. Early on, Han and her team realized that standard behavior therapy with its heavy focus on problem solving and change, often felt invalidating to clients dealing with intense emotional pain. Some clients would lash out, others would drop out altogether, and the challenge was that people didn't just need tools for change. They also needed to feel accepted, radically accepted, just as they were. This sparked a shift from a focus on change to a balance of change and acceptance. DBTs core strength lies in this dialectic. The idea that two seemingly opposite truths can coexist. You can accept yourself as you are and still work toward change. You can feel pain and survive it. Drawing from behaviorism, Zen [00:02:00]Buddhism and contemplated practices, DBT introduced mindfulness and distress tolerance. Now, core components of therapy, Linehan and her team worked to to translate spiritual concepts like radical acceptance into concrete, teachable skills that didn't rely on religious or spiritual belief to make it all work. DBT was structured as a comprehensive treatment including individual therapy, group skills training, phone coaching, and therapist consultation teams all built around a clear hierarchy of treatment targets. Eventually, the federal grant requirements push Linehan to focus research on a diagnosable disorder. That led to the first clinical trials targeting individuals with borderline personality disorder. These studies were groundbreaking and they showed that DBT worked over time. DBT has been adapted for many other populations, including those [00:03:00] with substance use disorders, eating disorders, and adolescents. Researchers and clinicians continue to refine DBT testing new skills and standalone interventions, but the heart of the treatment remains the same, helping people build a life worth living. This is why DBT can be applied to work with undocumented immigrants and the people who love and support them. Sophia Mendoza is a bilingual, licensed clinical social worker working in Los Angeles since 2007. She's trained in EMDR, dialectical behavior therapy, trauma-focused CBT, and cognitive processing therapy. She is also currently co-authoring a soon to be published book on healing from racism stress. Her clinical offering for today provides our clinicians with training on intersectional DBT skills for working with immigration status sphere. I, for one, am [00:04:00] grateful, deeply grateful for her ability to meet the moment by weaving theory lived experience and professional practice experience to provide a timely. Important professional development experience for all of us because I was undocumented until I was 12 years old and most of my family were undocumented too. I love this community and I will always support them in living healthy and purposeful and happy lives. So it is my honor to host an episode today titled, when Fear Becomes Reality, intersectional DBT for Immigration Status Fear Provided by Sophia Mendoza, LCSW. Good morning, Sophia. Thank you for joining us today. A lot of our clinicians would like to know a little bit about yourself. Some questions that we get are what, what shaped you into the person that you are today, and tell us a little bit about your expertise and [00:05:00] career trajectory. Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here. A little bit about what shaped me and into who I answered. That's such a big question. But um, yeah. Sophia Mendoza. I am a licensed clinical therapist here in Long Beach, California. I'm a Bruin. That's important to say. What shaped me into who I am today. So when thinking about why I became a social worker, I always think back to being young. I think maybe, maybe eight or nine or something, and going with my mom to the county building in a Department of Public Social Services because we were receiving, um, you know, cash Aid tanex is what they called it back then. Medi-Cal. And I remember her being interviewed by the caseworker there. And as a kid I was always interested in people. And so I would people watch. And in the lobby I remember seeing all these people with [00:06:00] their kids and just really. Realizing like, wow, all these people have stories and how lucky are these caseworkers? They get to hear all these stories and help these people. Right? I mean, it's really funny because many, many years I actually interfaced with a lot of DPSS social workers and you know, a lot of them love what they do, but some of them do not consider themselves lucky, right. Because they're working, uh, they're helping with, with so much need and sometimes it's beyond what they can do. Mm-hmm. But at the time I just thought like, wow, they get to help all these people. Wow. They, they get to help us. And so I think that was one of the first experiences that I can remember of like, not only needing help, but wanting to help too. And as with most. First gen children. Right. First generation. You know, my mom's an immigrant and so [00:07:00] I was also translating for her. I was like a cultural broker for her. Right. And translating documents and reading and stuff for her. So for me, when I think about like, what shaped me into being a helper, it's really those early experiences of being, I saw a child of enigma friend in a single parent household and going to agencies to receive help. I, I really empathize with that experience that you have and that you had as a cultural broker. Mm-hmm. Translating and, and being present and, and the re the response, holding that responsibility of helping your parents. Yeah. So when you went to UCLA, how did you get into social work after that? Well, actually I went to UCLA for my master's, but I went to uc, Irvine from undergrad. But it's an interesting story because I actually, well, I'm also a community college baby, so I was a community college, really [00:08:00] straddling the line between I wanna be a writer or I don't know, you know? And so, mm-hmm. I remember taking all the pre-reqs and I was taking a lot of anthropology, sociology. I took some psychology, I took some creative writing classes and I was very discouraged in the creative writing classes there. There weren't Latinos there. I think I might have been the only one. It was, it was really hard. It was, it was. It was a weird space to be in for me, and I got really scared. Really, really scared. And so at that point. Like they were talking about like finding a literary agent. And I was like, I don't know what any of that means. Right? And I was kind of paralyzed with the writing. And so I said, okay, well maybe I'm not meant to be a writer or a novelist. I was still interested in like journalism and current affairs and things like that. So then I was like deciding between sociology and psychology. [00:09:00] And so I found a really great program at uc, Irvine, which is Psychology and Social Behavior. And in the School of Social Ecology, they also had criminology, which was taught mainly by sociologists. And a lot of those classes were cross-listed with the Chicano Latino studies classes. And so that's kind of where my interests were married. And so I did the psychology, social behavior, and then the criminology double majors where I learned about how society influences us. And then the psychology, like how it becomes individual and personal. And so I think that was such a great foundation for me because a lot of the classes were also about to Latino experience. And so I really, it really felt at home and knowing the influence and the impact of all our intersectionalities.[00:10:00] Right. I went to undergrad at UCLA, so I'm a Bruin too. Mm-hmm. And my major was, uh, Chicano studies and psychology. Mm-hmm. And I didn't know about, I didn't know about social work until I graduated. I met this, this re
