Help for Immigrants’ Stress

Instituted last year by Organizacion Latino-Americana and the Children’s Museum of the East End, the Circles of Strength (Circulos de Fuerza) workshop will return to the museum on Tuesday from 6 to 9 p.m. 

The workshop maintains the same goal as it did last year, to help families who are struggling with the psychological effects of immigration-related stress and uncertainty.

It seems especially timely, as last week Luis Marin-Castro, an East Hampton resident of 20 years, although supposedly without legal status, was picked up by immigration officers and moved to New Mexico and later to El Paso, Tex.

The workshop will be facilitated by mental health and social work professionals in an effort to offer tools, exercises, and approaches to help families decrease stress, increase communication, and build stronger support systems. Attendees will be placed in groups with children kept together and separated from the adults. The professionals conducting the workshop will be ready for crisis intervention, if necessary. A dinner will also be offered.

Registration is required before Tuesday. The workshop is free and appropriate for ages 4 and over. CMEE is at 376 Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike in Bridgehampton. Registration and additional details are available by sending a text message to 631-848-7043 or by calling 631-899-3441.