Michelle Joaquin ’21F Find Sources of Strength Amidst Pain The resilience of her clients sticks most tenaciously in Michelle Joaquin’s mind. “I’ve been amazed by the hope that many of these immigrants still have despite the hardships and trauma they’ve endured,” she says. A PsyD candidate at the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Joaquin has seen complex trauma and despair up close in her work with undocumented immigrants through the school’s Asylum Project, where she has had to psychologically evaluate asylum seekers and write affidavits presented on their behalf in court. This work has also given her the chance to help them pursue security and a new life. “I’m really interested in helping vulnerable populations,” Joaquin says. “That’s why working with asylum seekers really speaks to me.” One client, a young man from Honduras, hoped to attend college in the United States. “Despite witnessing and enduring extreme violence in Honduras and risking his life getting here, he was able to maintain a positive and hopeful outlook,” Joaquin explains. “It was a beautiful expression of the American dream.” A first-generation American, Joaquin understands the power of the American dream. Her parents came to Washington Heights from the Dominican Republic, where she lived as a toddler, so she could be educated in the United States. She earned undergraduate and master’s degrees in forensic psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and did forensic investigative work with child abuse cases before coming to Ferkauf to pursue a doctorate in school-clinical child psychology. “I was attracted by Ferkauf’s amazing reputation,” she says. The Asylum Project training intrigued Joaquin because its broad scope goes beyond performing psycho-social evaluations and creating affidavit reports, including collaborating with immigration attorneys and coordinating social services for clients. Now she’s sharing what she’s learned through her externship in Montefiore Medical Center’s Behavioral Health Integration Program, where she presents to physicians and community boards about the immigration experience for children. This spring, she shared that insight with students at Stern College for Women, where she coordinated and moderated a panel called Clinical Considerations in Treating Immigrant and Refugee Populations. Her experience with trauma, her personal research into children with oppositional behavior disorder and her fluency in Spanish will benefit her current project: running groups for parents of children with oppositional behavior. Last year, the program didn’t recruit in Spanish, but “this year, I’m hoping to attract undocumented families that need this kind of support” by offering them an empathetic evaluation in their native language. Compassion and care serves Joaquin—and her clients—well, whether those clients are concerned parents or at-risk immigrants. She feels she has been well prepared. “Not only did the Asylum Project educate me about the legal aspects of working with asylum seekers, it also allowed me to collaborate with lawyers for both the legal affidavit and the coordination of services for the individual,” she says. “It was awesome to work in a team of clinicians and lawyers. It further showed me that working together as a team really is the best way to provide services to people who are forced to flee their native countries as a result of persecution.”