By Alara Stewart

As numbers of displacement skyrocket around the globe and people struggle to resettle in high-income countries, mental health isn’t a priority, or for a lack of better words it’s not even on their radar with other things to worry about. 

At Welcome Neighbor STL, prioritizing the empowerment and support of people isn’t just financial, it’s also mental. The Mothers Support Group, aims to do just that and has partnered with its creator, Jilayna Adamson, a psychotherapist of 10 years, MA, LPC, LMHC, EMDR. Located in the Afghan Community Center, the mothers meet bi-weekly on Fridays with a range from five to eight moms. WNSTL volunteers and family partners help drive mothers and their children to the group, with a play space for kids where volunteers watch them while the group is in session. 

Being active for three years now, the group has been a success for many women and allowed for trusting relationships with Adamson as resettling to a new country comes with a lot of unpacked trauma. Refugee women and mothers especially lack access to mental health resources in a country that often disregards mothers’ needs; one can only imagine the adversity that must be faced in addition to past trauma. 

“Mothers are often stuck at home alone, isolated and without support,” Adamson said. “The isolation here is a huge adjustment for our moms. In addition to a completely different way of life and fear and loneliness, refugee mothers coming to St. Louis are less likely than their spouses to be able to drive, or get jobs, as they are in the motherhood role 24-7. Not to mention, there is high anxiety in even leaving the house in a new country where you don’t speak the language. Some women were/are very rarely able to get out of their homes. Because of this, the trauma, and displacement, we see high rates of depression and anxiety.” 

The women Adamson works with come from a region of the world where there is a cultural stigma against mental health. The traumas of financial hardships, safety, resettlement, etc. are left undiscussed and oppress women beyond societal norms. 

“It is important to identify mental health as a normal part of one’s self to care for, particularly for women coming from countries with high rates of oppression who may know little about mental wellness, or have had little agency over their lives,” said Adamson. 

Despite some presumed hesitancy, the women have fully embraced the group and experience with open arms. This collective cultural difference of emphasizing community and warmness shown to others compared to a western, individualistic culture, has expedited the group’s capability to be receptive and open with one another. 

 “These women are so incredible and loving and have so much caring and compassion to offer one another already– it’s really beautiful, the support system they grow, and the ways they begin to advocate for themselves and their fellow group members,” Adamson said. “We have so much to learn from them, and I’m so humbled they share their stories with me. I’m just the facilitator, these women are the force! And they take care of me too!”

The group has now also received a grant from and partnered with Monarch International and plans to potentially expand. Adamson aspires to work with a group of teenagers or potentially work with a second group on alternating Fridays. This inspirational work of supporting women could not be done without the efforts of women and volunteers.