This chapter explores the definition of mental health as a culturally prescribed concept with special emphasis on the topic of strength-based and resiliency-focused assessment. It discusses the complexities of psychological assessment with new immigrants as well as the determination of appropriate levels of intervention, including specialized treatment options. Culturally and linguistically appropriate therapeutic services and models will increase the effectiveness and efficaciousness of mental health treatment. A major mental health vulnerability in new immigrant populations is often the variety of traumatic experiences that has forced these individuals into the role of immigrants. Personal crisis, including any psychological/addictive symptoms experienced, should be addressed immediately by the mental health professional. The primary relationship between immigrant clients and mental health practitioners should be created and maintained. In initiating mental health interventions with immigrant children, it is ideal to engage the caretakers and complete family system in order to ensure treatment compliance and success.

Individuals who repeatedly return to an abusive and dangerous relationship can often benefit from standard Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy, to resolve their confusion, resolve feelings of shame and helplessness, and make positive choices. Some return to the relationship because of a fear of violent consequences if they attempt to leave, and in these situations, therapy is better focused on creating an action plan to successfully and safely leave a dangerous situation. However, a subset of individuals, who return to a relationship following violence, may be blocked in utilizing the therapeutic power of EMDR by their strong emotional investment in an unrealistic positive image of the abusive partner. The chapter describes a procedure to assist such clients in removing this block to processing, through identifying and targeting a “best moment” memory that represents the distorted idealized image of the partner and of the relationship.

It is not uncommon for children, adolescents, and families to seek counselors’ services when they are in crisis. Despite a growing literature base in school crisis prevention, intervention, and preparedness, there is a relatively scant literature base addressing mental health crisis intervention for professional counselors. This chapter addresses elements pertinent to crisis intervention, including mandated reporting, and associated trauma or grief. Children understand and process grief and trauma differently based on developmental and cognitive ability levels. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for children to experience traumatic events before reaching adulthood. As an example, international studies document that child sexual abuse, physical abuse, or domestic violence affects approximately 25% of children. War, natural disasters, motor vehicle accidents, violence, terrorist acts, and refugee experiences can all contribute to trauma reactions. Regrettably, if left untreated, complications associated with unresolved trauma or grief can last well into adulthood.

Consciousness is something that every child understands, yet scientists and philosophers struggle to explain it. Consciousness provides an essential human quality to life experience, as one depends on it to organize and prioritize their memories, emotions, and actions. Unraveling the enigma of consciousness, and its impairment, has been a thorny road to travel, often littered with confusion and denial. This has been particularly true regarding understanding of the effects of psychological neglect and trauma on ones biopsychosocial systems. Consciousness is alterable by several influences: alcohol, drugs, anesthesia, childhood neglect and abuse, traumatic experiences, neural injury, and disease. This chapter begins by briefly exploring global alterations of consciousness, such as anesthesia, coma, and vegetative states. This allows us to examine the impact of these pervasive states of impaired consciousness on the neural systems, noted earlier. It then examines in detail disorders of consciousness induced by psychic neglect and trauma.

Trauma recovery is a complex process involving revising self-talk and managing and eventually extinguishing flashbacks and somatic concerns. Many treatment considerations emerge: was it a single trauma (i.e., an automobile accident) or ongoing (e.g., regular sexual violation by a family member)? A natural disaster versus a terrorist attack? Does the survivor have a strong support system or is she isolated? Is there self-education involved, or sobriety? Many factors are considered when developing a trauma treatment plan. There are numerous ways people experience and survive through traumatic events. This chapter explores some of these while offering concrete interventions for treatment considerations. It provides a list of suggested resources for further trauma education and treatment.

Native Americans are a young and growing population. Poverty, racism, and trauma are common factors in the lives of many Native people, and these provide a context for significant social and health disparities. It is also important to recognize the resilience and tenacity that have allowed Native people to survive as distinct cultural and political groups in spite of centuries of colonization. Helping professionals can play an important role in assisting Native clients to access needed services and nurture their resilience. Professionals can also bring a strong grounding in social justice to combat many of the struggles that affect Indigenous Peoples. This chapter discusses the demographic profile of the Native American population. It also discusses the psychosocial risks and needs of Native Americans. The chapter provides the assessment treatment approaches for social and health problems, although few have been developed or adapted for Native Americans.

Suicide is a major concern in treating military personnel and veterans. Therapists who treat these populations are confronted with suicidality, how to assess for it and recognize the warning signs, what questions to ask, and how to best manage clients who struggle with potential suicide as their reality. This chapter describes the theories of suicide, the desensitization to death during combat, the impact of war wounds, the influence of traumatic brain injuries, moral injury, and the influence of dissociation on suicidal ideation. It also discusses the impact of military sexual trauma, unresolved grief, and moral injury that can impact a person’s will to live or die. The chapter presents three key questions for assessing suicide. It provides a scripted session of a military client who describes a veteran’s experience during a dissociative suicide attempt with subsequent Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing treatment.

This chapter is designed to familiarize the reader with military sexual trauma (MST), as well as its definition, assessment, and procedures in addressing the trauma by the active military and the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) agencies. It discusses the use of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy in the treatment of MST. It is a resource for clinicians who treat active duty service members, those clinicians within the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA/VA) clinical teams, and therapists in private practice. MST is a term used by the branches of the U.S. military and the DVA/VA to refer to experiences of sexual assault or the repeated threatening of sexual harassment made to persons while serving within the military. It presents the distinctions between restricted and unrestricted reporting along with MST risk factors among populations. The chapter discusses the treatment options, based on the client’s goals.