Protecting Immigrant Clients: Counseling Advocacy in Practice – May 29

Logistics & Scheduling

Preferred date or timeframe: 5/29/26
Proposed length: 3.5 hours
Requested fee:

Curriculum & Content Plan

Presenters indicated that curriculum does not qualify as either law & ethics, supervision, or cultural/bias content.

Online class experiential components: slides (PowerPoint, Google Slides), breakout rooms, chat, poll or survey

Learner experience level: Novice/Beginning Learners: No advance knowledge required

NBCC Content Area: Counseling Theory/Practice and the Counseling Relationship, Social and Cultural Foundations, Counselor Professional Identity and Practice Issues

Program Description:

This program is designed to prepare clinicians, especially students and trainees, with the knowledge and tools to advocate for and support undocumented clients, clients with immigrant backgrounds or connections to immigrant communities, and families impacted by the threat of deportation. This training focuses on social justice advocacy as an imperative aspect of clinical counseling, especially with the most vulnerable populations. This training has three components:

• The first hour (9am to 10am PT) will be a presentation by Dr. Sandra Espinoza on the realities that undocumented individuals, as well non-citizens and even U.S. citizens, are now facing, including the relational ruptures, attachment disruptions, and trauma responses that often accompany deportation-related family separation. Participants will learn how to integrate trauma-informed, culturally-sensitive, and systemic approaches in their work.
• The second hour (10:15am to 11:15am PT)will be a practical training by Dr. Lisa Wenninger in documentation practices that approach client confidentiality from a new perspective, based on possible harm that can come to clients when they are targeted based on their identities.

Those two components comprise the 2-CE training that is available to all participants.

• Thereafter, a third hour (11:30am to 12:30pm PT) will be an experiential workshop open only to current graduate student members of CSJ who are attending any counseling program. This is a closed session to support learners at an earlier stage of their professional development to practice skills together with their peers. This experiential section will be led by Future Dr. Elizabeth Holmes in practicing intake assessment techniques, for students to implement the knowledge gained in the first two sections of the training that day. Students will be invited to do a mock intake interview with a “client”, and observers will practice capturing the contents of the intake in their assessment form using client-centered, social justice oriented defensive documentation techniques. Time permitting, we will also facilitate a candid discussion on how to advocate for clients with supervisors and colleagues within clinical training environments.

The CE-eligible sections of this program (from 9am to 11:15am PT) are open to any mental health practitioner. The last hour will be only for current counseling students who have an active CSJ membership.

Educational Goals:

This training is focused on skills, knowledge, and practice of social justice advocacy in the context of the ACA Advocacy Competencies (Toporek & Daniels, 2018) and the Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies (Ratts et al., 2016).

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the impact of deportation and deportation related threat on the mental health of undocumented individuals and families.
• Apply at least two culturally sensitive and trauma informed approaches/interventions to clients affected by deportation and deportation related threat.
• Apply at least two strategies to conduct a culturally grounded and sensitive assessment to better understand the needs of undocumented individuals and families.
• Define the data elements that would comprise a “medical record” and contrast it to protected category of documentation called “psychotherapy notes” under HIPAA
• Perform and document an intake assessment with a non-citizen client using techniques designed for sensitivity

Equity Focus:

This training focuses on caring for vulnerable clients in ways that acknowledges their vulnerability and employs the counselor’s relative privilege towards the ethical guideline of nonmaleficence.

References:

Presenters

Presenter Name: Lisa Wenninger, PhD, MBA, LPCC/LPC/LMHC, NCC, BC-TMH

Pronouns: she/her
Email: lisa@myriadsites.com
For this training, this presenter’s background and expertise qualifies them for this NBCC Presenter Category: Category 1: Graduate degree in mental health field, and qualified by education, training, or authorship for this specific subject
Presenter CV/Resume :

Education:

• Doctorate: CES Antioch University 2024

Relevant experience/training related to topic :

Doctorate degree in Counselor Education and Supervision.

Professional licenses (including state), and/or specific certifications that are related to this topic.:

CA LPCC #14315
WA LMHC #61478356
VA LPC #0701015452

Presenter Bio (to be included on promotional materials):

Dr. Lisa Wenninger (she/her) has a PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision from Antioch University Seattle. She is a National Certified Counselor and is licensed in California, Washington, and Virginia, with a telehealth-only social justice counseling practice working with individuals with marginalized identities who are navigating a complex and difficult world. Dr. Wenninger serves on the Board of Counselors for Social Justice to promote advocacy and allyship within the counseling profession and help nurture development of the professional identity of counselor-advocate in colleagues. Dr. Wenninger makes a point to attend the meetings of the California Board of Behavioral Sciences and in other ways stay on top of laws and regulations affecting counselors and our clients. She regularly provides continuing education courses on topics such as law and ethics of telehealth, culturally informed diagnosing, and antiracism in counseling, and consults with organizations interested in building more inclusive and welcoming cultures.

Does presenter have special needs or require any accommodations?: none
Permission to Record I give my permission to record my presentation for use by Resonant Equity in creating an on-demand version of my training content.

Presenter Name: Sandra Espinoza, PsyD, LMFT

Pronouns: she/her
Email: mftsandra@gmail.com
For this training, this presenter’s background and expertise qualifies them for this NBCC Presenter Category: Category 1: Graduate degree in mental health field, and qualified by education, training, or authorship for this specific subject
Presenter CV/Resume :

Education:

• Master’s:
• Doctorate:

Relevant experience/training related to topic :
Professional licenses (including state), and/or specific certifications that are related to this topic.:
Presenter Bio (to be included on promotional materials):

Dr. Sandra Espinoza, PsyD, LMFT (she/her) is an Associate Professor and Branch Director of the Couple and Family Therapy program at Alliant International University in Los Angeles. A bilingual Mexican-American therapist and AAMFT Approved Supervisor, Dr. Espinoza integrates cultural humility, social justice, anti-oppressive, anti-carceral approaches, and advocacy in her scholarship, teaching, and practice. She has presented on the issue of immigration and deportation at the local and national level. She has been in clinical practice for over 14 years and maintains a private practice supporting mostly interracial couples and Latinx clients.

Does presenter have special needs or require any accommodations?:
Permission to Record I give my permission to record my presentation for use by Resonant Equity in creating an on-demand version of my training content.

Presenter Name: Elizabeth Holmes

Pronouns: she/they
Email: holmesaelizabeth@gmail.com
For this training, this presenter’s background and expertise qualifies them for this NBCC Presenter Category: Category 1: Graduate degree in mental health field, and qualified by education, training, or authorship for this specific subject
Presenter CV/Resume :

Education:

• Master’s:

Relevant experience/training related to topic :
Professional licenses (including state), and/or specific certifications that are related to this topic.:
Presenter Bio (to be included on promotional materials):

Elizabeth A. Holmes, LMHC, NCC, CMHS is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in the state of Washington, serving clients in a community behavioral health setting. They work with clients across the lifespan, specializing in diagnostic assessment, crisis intervention, and gender-affirming care. Elizabeth provides internal agency consultation and community training regarding the needs of queer clients and supports fellow counselors through clinical supervision. They hold a Master of Education in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Florida A&M University and are currently pursuing a PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision through Antioch University’s low-residency program. Elizabeth’s emerging research interests focus on the counseling experiences of gender-diverse individuals living with psychosis and on advancing the counseling profession’s capacity to effectively serve clients with this unique intersection of identities and mental health needs.

Does presenter have special needs or require any accommodations?:
Permission to Record I give my permission to record my presentation for use by Resonant Equity in creating an on-demand version of my training content.

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Respect for Intellectual Property – All presenters attested that: The content to be presented does not infringe upon or violate intellectual property or privacy rights of any other party, including copyright, trademark, and license rights, The presenters attest that they either own the materials to be presented, and/or are permitted by law to use the materials in the proposed program.