Social workers, white supremacy culture and refugee mental health care: social work ideologies and discourse in language

Existing refugee mental health care research indicates that refugees in the U.S. do not often experience improved mental health outcomes, even if seeking mental health care. While most refugee mental health literature looks at the refugee’s role in this circumstance, this dissertation explores the language of Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSWs) who work with refugee clients. This dissertation critically analyzes the language of 12 LCSWs in the midwestern U.S. to identify how LCSWs use language to make sense of refugee clients, the mental health care the LCSWs offer, and how this language sustains or transforms white supremacy culture ideology. Findings offer insight into two discourses across all participants: discourse of power and discourse of care. LCSWs interviewed provide concrete examples of how they enact white supremacy culture in refugee mental health care. They also provide concrete examples of how they make choices and changes that transform refugee mental health care by working outside white supremacy culture. While this dissertation is exploratory, it provides building blocks for future research and concrete actions for social work education and practice.