New support groups for farmworkers aim to heal widespread trauma

A migrant farmworker living in the U.S. might endure multiple types of trauma and stress throughout their life. Common workplace experiences include sexual violence and harassment, exposure to pesticides, low pay and limited workplace protections, and fear of being targeted by immigration or other law enforcement officials. Those who fled a violent country before arriving in the U.S. may also have a prior history of trauma and feel relentlessly vigilant about their safety.

"Those are all traumatic circumstances that they're weighing and carrying every day," says Mónica Ramírez, a civil rights lawyer and founder and president of the Ohio-based nonprofit advocacy organization Justice for Migrant Women.

The COVID-19 pandemic only compounded the burden. Suddenly, farmworkers were expected to report to work in order to feed the country during a health emergency, and then many would come home to bare cupboards and the possibility of a COVID infection spreading through their household.

Ramírez decided to address these unique psychological and emotional challenges by launching Healing Voices, a program designed to reach farmworkers with mental health resources and support. The initiative aims to facilitate "holistic healing" for some of the 3 million farmworkers who've experienced trauma in their work and personal lives. The goal is to help farmworkers and migrant women feel supported and safe as they seek ways to work through their experiences. The project's partners include the the Eva Longoria Foundation and National Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Program, which is currently recruiting participants. Healing Voices is is funded by The Workers Lab and the Collective Future Fund.

The work begins in June with a pilot of several Zoom support groups led by a therapist. If participants don't have a device or internet capability, they will be eligible for a stipend to pay for both expenses.

The pilot will give nearly 100 participants the opportunity to talk about their well-being and learn skills like how to name emotions and how to breathe mindfully to counter the body's stress response. Other topics include parenting and strengths developed during the pandemic. While participants will discuss basic definitions for experiences like depression, anxiety, and trauma, Ramírez says the curriculum avoids clinical jargon. Instead, Healing Voices is pitching its support groups as an encouraging network of peers.

Ramírez hopes this approach appeals to farmworkers who might otherwise turn down mental health services because of the stigma that can accompany emotional vulnerability in American culture and some Latinx communities. The support groups will incorporate the tradition of farmworker "talk circles," or informal conversations rooted in shared experiences, as well as self-advocacy training that has defined farmworker organizing methods for decades.

Healing Voices also partnered with Latinx Therapy, a community organization that focuses on wellness and hosts a directory of therapists experienced in working with clients of Latinx or Hispanic heritage.

Adriana Alejandre, a licensed marriage and family therapist and founder of Latinx Therapy, says the therapists involved in the pilot have a personal or family connection to migrant farm work, or have experience treating farmworkers. Alejandre says the curriculum draws on established practices like cognitive behavioral therapy, which is based on skill-building, but also incorporates techniques that reflect farmworkers' cultural identities and backgrounds. For example, Alejandre says Healing Voices therapists will try to avoid creating a hierarchy in the support groups because it could discourage help-seeking behavior.

"We believe it is important that the participants feel in control of their treatment and create trust and equality in the group," Alejandre wrote in a follow-up email.

Once the pilot is underway this summer, Healing Voices plans to offer resources for farmworkers on how to create their own peer-led support group.

Ramírez's vision, however, is more expansive than providing mental health support to farmworkers. She hopes the Healing Voices initiative illuminates the connections between poor working conditions and people's well-being, and her goal is to make employers responsible for providing mental health care when their employees experience emotional abuse on the job.

"I want to see the day when mental health is considered an occupational health and safety issue by our federal government," she says.