'Portland Press Herald' publishes ‘Maine Voices’ column by UNE’s Shelley Cohen Konrad

A ‘Maine Voices’ piece by Shelley Cohen Konrad, Ph.D., LCSW, FNAP, director of the School of Social Work and the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC), has been published in the Portland Press Herald.

Titled ‘Finding one’s true voice in the most challenging of times,’ Cohen Konrad’s article discusses the recent changes in immigration policy and how the travel ban echoes events from our history.

“These shameful acts from our past and the one we are now experiencing have short- and long-term impact,” she writes.

Cohen Konrad notes the ripple effects seen in Maine, in programs such as the Center for Grieving Children in Portland. At this organization, “youth enact the unresolved grief and pain of their families as well as their own. At the same time, these children and families testify to their resilience. They teach us the power of culture, custom and connection.”

She continues, “For now, broad-scale mandates are most notably affecting Maine’s immigrants and refugees. But as history tells us, any group or population may be subject to direct and indirect discrimination at any given time. As a social worker for 40 years, I know that the current mandates and rapid-fire changes shake everyone to the core.”

Read the article in the Portland Press Herald. 

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