MN REFUGEE WELLNESS

Workshop Description:

This webinar introduces CAF-affiliated mental health professionals, social workers, and clinicians to the complex realities faced by LGBTQ+ refugees and newcomers in Canada, particularly those impacted by gender-based violence-cutting (GBV). These individuals may be part of military-connected families, supported by military resettlement programs, or engaged through CAF peacekeeping and humanitarian missions abroad.

The session explores the compounded impact of identity-based trauma, forced migration, and systemic barriers to care, with a focus on how sexual orientation and gender identity intersect with GBV in pre- and post-migration phases. It considers the unique challenges faced by LGBTQ+ newcomers—such as family rejection, persecution, legal precarity, and community isolation—and their mental health impacts.

Participants will be invited to reflect on their roles in clinical and military social service settings, understand the nuances of betrayal trauma in migration and immigration contexts, and examine how to offer relational safety through culturally-attuned, non-pathologizing practices. The session will also introduce Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET) as a trauma-informed approach relevant to military clinicians and community mental health workers.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of the session, participants will be able to:

1. Recognize the unique experiences of LGBTQ+ refugees impacted by GBV, and how these may intersect with military programs or services.
2. Understand the mental health impacts of gender-based and identity-based violence within refugee and resettlement contexts.
3. Identify the role of military clinicians and social workers in addressing intersecting identities (e.g., SOGIE, race, disability, legal status) in care provision.
4. Apply strategies for trauma-informed, culturally safe, and refugee-centred clinical work in military settings.
5. Describe the principles of Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET) and how it can support healing in refugee and newcomer clients served by CAF or MFS staff.

This is a private event and open to CAF members only