African Refugee Well-being Project

Pediatrics 
 
Geographic Area Served

Albuquerque
Project Description
The African Refugee Well-being Project (ARWP) is a community-based participatory research study with the goal of promoting the mental health and well-being of refugees in New Mexico through an innovative 6-month program that emphasizes mutual learning and the mobilization of community resources. The project has two components. The first component is (1) Learning Circles that occur twice weekly. Each meeting is two hours and involves refugee participants and undergraduates. Learning circles begin with cultural exchange, which provides a forum for refugees and undergraduates to learn from each other through discussions aided by interpreters. Next, one-on-one learning occurs as undergraduates and refugee participants work in pairs. Refugee participants choose their areas of learning such as speaking, reading, writing English or learning to complete job applications. Child and adolescent Learning Circles include homework help, tutoring, and other fun learning activities. The second component is (2) Advocacy that is based on the Community Advocacy model, which has been successfully applied to domestic violence survivors and juvenile offenders. The undergraduate students spend an additional two to four hours weekly (outside of the Learning Circles) advocating for and transferring advocacy skills to their refugee family to mobilize community resources based on unmet needs identified by the family.
 
Eligibility
All undergraduate students can apply.
 

Course Information

Department: PSY
Course #: 450
Frequency: 2-semester course
 
 
 

 
Contact Information:
Location Mailing Address



 Division of Prevention and Populations Sciences
MSC11 6145
2703 Frontier Rd. NE
Albuquerque
NM
87106
 
Email Telephone
Jessica Goodkind jgoodkind@salud.unm.edu
Ann Githinji AGithinji@salud.unm.edu
 
 
Jessica Goodkind, Principal In 272-0046
Ann Githinji, Research Coordin 272-4462
 
Fax 272-4857
Website  
   







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