Building Trust: Developing Mental Health Services for Undocumented College Students

Themes/Topics: Mental Health

Geography: California

Audience: Ally, Educator

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Summary

Building Trust: Developing Mental Health Services for Undocumented College Students is a research report that draws from Immigrants Rising’s mental health services from 2019 to 2025, particularly the Mental Health Connector and Wellness Support Groups, to understand the programs’ effectiveness in supporting undocumented students’ mental health. Using qualitative data from interviews and focus groups with student participants, mental health providers, and undocumented student services staff, this report reveals “three distinct and mutually reinforcing dimensions” of trust, the roles these play in mental health services, and their positive impacts on undocumented students’ well-being and academic outcomes. This report also includes recommendations for mental health providers, higher education practitioners, academic institutions, and policymakers on building trust with undocumented populations. The report concludes with mental health resources for undocumented students, as well as a discussion of the Mental Health Career Program as a replicable model for expanding the pipeline to a trustworthy, competent mental health workforce.

To read an overview of this report, view this executive summary.

This research report was prepared by Dr. Laura E. Enriquez, Dr. Martha Morales Hernandez, and R.J. Ronquillo, with content support from Dr. Iliana Perez, Laura Monica Bohórquez, Nicol Molina Torres, and Naja Valdovinos.

Who may benefit from this resource?

We especially encourage campus leaders, higher education practitioners, legislators, community-based organizations (CBOs), mental health providers, and funders to use this report to inform service design, program priorities, and public policy that impact undocumented students’ mental health. However, anyone interested in learning more about undocumented mental health services, institutional and interpersonal trust-building as an effective practice, and undocumented mental health research can gain new knowledge from this report.

Outline

  1. Introduction
  2. Trust as a Foundation for Successful Programming and Services
  3. Immigrants Rising Mental Health Programming: A Case Study
    1. Program Description
      1. Mental Health Connector
      2. Wellness Support Group
    2. How Immigrants Rising Cultivated Institutional Trust
    3. How Practitioners Cultivated Interpersonal Trust
    4. Program Impact on Undocumented Students’ Mental Well-being
      1. Social Connectedness
      2. Emotional Identification
      3. Stress Regulation Through Emotional Processing
      4. Coping Skill Development
    5. Program Impact on Students’ Academic Success
      1. Academic Performance: Coping Skills as a Foundation for Achievement
      2. Academic Engagement
      3. Academic Persistence: Connection, Confidence, and the Capacity to Continue
  4. Campus Programming: Opportunities to Cultivate Institutional Trust
    1. Wellness Programming as an Entry Point for Trust
    2. Structural Constraints to Building Trust
    3. Collaborative Programming: Building on What Works
      1. Campus-Based Collaborations
      2. Community Collaborations
    4. Policy and Program Recommendations for Campuses
  5. Mental Health Practitioners: Best Practices to Cultivate Interpersonal Trust
    1. Onboarding and Service Provision Practices
    2. Therapeutic Alliance in 1-1 Settings
    3. Cultivating Trust in Group Settings
  6. Engaging Policymakers to Build a Trustworthy Mental Health Workforce
  7. Conclusion
  8. References
  9. Appendix A: Resources
  10. Appendix B: Expanding the Pipeline — Policy Recommendations for Supporting Undocumented Pre-Licensed Therapists
    1. The Barrier
    2. Proof of Concept: The Mental Health Career Program
    3. Recommendations
  11. Appendix C: Data and Methods
    1. Participants
    2. Data Collection
    3. Data Analysis
  12. Acknowledgements
  13. About Us

Topics & Keywords

undocu mental health, immigrant mental health, undocu well-being, mental health research, undocumented student well-being

Immigrants Rising helps you make decisions based on your potential, not your perceived limits. Visit our website so you can see what’s possible: immigrantsrising.org. For inquiries regarding this resource, please contact us at [email protected] with the title of the resource included in the email subject line.

Revised 9/2026.

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