The Invisible Burden: Understanding and Responding to the Effects of ICE/DHS Presence on Immigrant Youth is presented by ourBRIDGE and will help educators understand and respond to the unique challenges faced by immigrant and mixed-status students. The session highlights how immigration-related stress and trauma affect children’s mental health, learning, and classroom behavior, while providing practical strategies to foster resilience, connection, and safety.


Educators will:


  • Learn about the impact of trauma and stress on learning and behavior
  • Learn to recognize key signs of stress in students
  • Explore ways to guide students in processing fear
  • Learn effective strategies to mediate peer conflict and support newcomer and multilingual students in the classroom


The training will be facilitated by ourBRIDGE Trauma-Informed Care Specialists, Dr. Claire Cronin and Martia Edwards, MS, LCMHCA (bios below) and will conclude with an interactive Q&A focused on real-world applications.


Date/Time: October 1st, 2025 | 5:30 pm-7:00 pm EST


Location: Virtual (Zoom)

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing more information about joining the meeting.


For questions, please email Martia@joinourbridge.org


We hope you'll join us!

REGISTER HERE TODAY

(spaces are limited)

Claire Cronin, PhD LPC NCC RPT-S

ourBRIDGE Equity-Centered Trauma-Informed Care Advisor


Dr. Claire Cronin is a licensed professional counselor and registered play therapist supervisor with over a decade of experience supporting immigrant communities. She has dedicated her clinical, supervisory, and academic work to advancing culturally responsive mental health care, with a focus on child-centered play therapy. Through training, research, and direct service, she has worked to expand access to high-quality behavioral health care for immigrant families, while mentoring the next generation of counselors to do the same.

Martia Edwards LCMHCA

ourBRIDGE Play Therapist/Classroom Coach


Martia is a clinical mental health counselor associate with over five years of experience working with children and adolescents ages 4–18. She specializes in play therapy, CBT, group therapy, and person-centered approaches, integrating expressive arts to support growth and healing. Her work has focused on helping clients navigate anxiety, depression, life transitions, parent–child conflict, self-esteem, and behavioral challenges such as ADHD and Oppositional Defiant Disorder. In addition to her role at ourBRIDGE and in private practice, she serves as a practitioner instructor in the Counseling Program at Wake Forest University.


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