The Psychological Impact of Zero Tolerance: Fear, Loss, Hope

In an earlier show on Psych Up Live, Law Professor Sarah Rogerson discussed the legal ramifications of the Immigration Crisis. In this show, Dr. Hawthorne Smith, licensed psychologist and Clinical Director of the Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture for over 15 years, discusses the psychological impact of Zero Tolerance on Immigrants. As a clinician providing services for immigrants for many years he knows about the violence they have fled, the impact of detention, the terror of ICE raids, the despair of family separations and the increased perils of today's asylum process. Dr. Smith will share the inside stories that few understand of the impact of increased xenophobia on immigrants. He will also share the clinical group interventions the Bellevue Program has offered that make hope a possibility. The message here is not to open borders – it is to understand the fear and pain of those truly in need of asylum.