UNSETTLED: Free Film Screening & Panel Discussion on LGBTQ Refugees

The Global Alliance will be hosting a free live screening of UNSETTLED (Thursday 6/25) and follow-up panel discussion (Monday 6/29) with human rights and mental health experts. Every refugee and asylum seeker has a story to tell. UNSETTLED is a feature-length documentary film revealing the untold stories of LGBTQ refugees and asylum seekers who have fled intense persecution from their home countries and who are resettling in the U.S. Registration is free to all members and non-members and includes access to both the film screening and panel discussion. A link to access both will be emailed with your registration confirmation.

Watch the full panel discussion recording:

Panelists

Lucy Mair is a UK human rights barrister (lawyer) who specializes in representing particularly vulnerable victims of human trafficking, domestic violence, torture, and sexual or other forms of exploitation, as well as LGBTQ+ individuals, in their immigration and asylum cases. She has also volunteered as a legal advisor in refugee camps in Greece during the Mediterranean refugee crisis. Lucy previously worked in the fields of human rights and refugees for over a decade including for the international NGO Human Rights Watch, during which time she covered events in the Middle East from Jerusalem. Lucy has a law degree from Manchester Metropolitan University (UK) and a Masters in Human Rights from Columbia University.

Jessica Goodkind is a Community Psychologist, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of New Mexico, and Associate Vice Chancellor of Diversity Education for the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center. Her research addresses the mental health consequences of stressful social environments and involves developing/assessing processes that promote healing, well-being, and social justice. She founded the Refugee Well-being Project, which has brought together thousands of university students and newly resettled refugees to learn from each other and engage in collective efforts to mobilize resources, with the goals of improving mental health and creating sustainable changes in communities’ receptiveness to refugees and policies that affect refugee resettlement. Jessica is also a Global Alliance Board Member.

Virginia Gil-Rivas, PhD, is a Professor of Psychology and Director of the Doctoral Program in Health Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Her research has focused on identifying factors at multiple levels that contribute to successful adjustment among individuals exposed to major negative life events (e.g., serious illness, disasters, mass trauma, violence exposure, and forced migration) and chronic adversity (i.e., poverty, discrimination, chronic health conditions). She has also been involved in the development, implementation, and evaluation of brief health interventions that are culturally and contextually appropriate. Virginia is also a Global Alliance Board Member. 

Moderator

Cynthia Taylor Handrup, DNP, APRN, PMHCNS-BC, (@cthandrup) is the current President of the Global Alliance for Behavioral Health and Social Justice. Dr. Handrup is a Clinical Assistant Professor and Director of the Primary Care Mental Health Concentration in the College of Nursing at the University of Illinois at Chicago.