The WINGS Program
Julia Montany, WINGS Program Manager
When Las Cumbres’ Walking In Grace with Survivors of Torture (WINGS) Program opened its doors in Albuquerque in October of 2022, Program Manager Julia Montany had no doubt about the scale of the challenge ahead.
She knew from firsthand experience that New Mexico receives thousands of refugees and asylum-seekers each year, many of whom have undergone profoundly traumatic experiences and need a wide range of medical, behavioral health, immigration legal, and social work services as they transition to life in the United States.
Prior to joining Las Cumbres, Montany developed and ran a similar program for Lutheran Family Services that provided services for survivors of torture and their families.
This work was funded through a Survivors of Torture (SOT) grant from the Office of Refugee Resettlement within the federal Health and Human Services Department. When Lutheran Family Services decided not to reapply for the SOT grant at the close of its grant cycle, Montany teamed up with Las Cumbres to apply for – and receive – the grant, one of just 30 Survivors of Torture grants awarded in the country and the only one in New Mexico.
Refugees and Asylum-Seekers
WINGS clients typically arrive in the U.S. in one of two ways: as refugees or as asylum-seekers. While these terms may sound similar, Montany notes that they are distinct legal categories with significant implications for newly-arrived migrants.
Supporting Refugees
Migrants who have been granted refugee status through the United Nations – or who possess a Special Immigrant Visa, Humanitarian Parole status, or other status granted by the federal government – arrive in the country with legal rights and opportunities. In New Mexico, Lutheran Family Services meets refugees at the airport, offers a hot cultural meal, provides transportation to a prepared apartment, and helps facilitate integration into school and jobs. In addition, refugees are legally entitled to an array of job supports, public benefits, and other services from government.
Supporting Asylum-Seekers
By contrast, migrants arriving in the United States without refugee status in order to seek asylum aren’t yet eligible for these supports – and receiving asylum can take painful years of waiting.
Many people seeking asylum cannot legally gain employment until they receive their work authorizations (which can take a year or more), nor do the majority qualify for social services or public benefits.
These challenges are compounded by an immigration system that makes qualifying for asylum extremely difficult. In order to be granted asylum, an individual is required to provide concrete evidence demonstrating either that they have suffered persecution on account of a protected status in the past, and/or that they have a “well-founded fear” of future persecution in their home country. Most people fleeing violence in their countries are not able to bring this evidence with them when they escape their homes or to keep it with them through the perilous journey to the U.S.
Even if an individual is able to navigate the expensive and dangerous process of retroactively gathering evidence from their country of origin, judges often lack the necessary training to evaluate the testimonies they hear in court. Many asylum-seekers have faced profound trauma in their countries of origin – but because of trauma’s effects on memory, asylum-seekers are not always well-positioned to offer coherent, linear testimonies about the explicit details of their experiences. The El Paso court system, which handles most of New Mexico’s asylum cases, rejects 90% of the asylum cases it hears.
How WINGS Assists
The WINGS program operates on the premise that regardless of their legal status, survivors of torture and their families deserve relational, culturally and linguistically appropriate, trauma-informed, holistic, and community-integrated care. As clients are treated in humane and sensitive ways, they can begin to process their trauma, heal, and build safe and secure lives in their new communities.
First, though, clients are often in need of more basic forms of support. According to Montany, the most common client is a single parent with children, and these families often lack stable or safe housing. “Sometimes they’re staying on couches or with someone they might not know,” says Montany. “Other times, they don’t have any place to stay at all.”
Clients are typically unable to earn a livable income, due to the lengthy wait times for their legal work authorizations. They often face food insecurity, insufficient clothing for weather, and their children often face barriers accessing regular schooling. “There is a large social services component to our work,” says Montany. “And thankfully, we have some capacity to meet emergency needs.” That includes assistance with basic needs and short-term housing support. Providing support for basic necessities can help ensure that families are less vulnerable to scams or predatory individuals.
Enrolling in the WINGS program includes an eligibility assessment, which allows staff to determine whether clients meet the U.S. definition of having experienced torture. The team then conducts a comprehensive needs assessment and works together with clients to establish goals for their time in the program.
This process typically involves interpretation services. Thus far, WINGS has met the language access needs of program participants by contracting with interpreters who are fluent in Spanish, Swahili, Farsi, Dari, Pashtu, Arabic, and Kinyarwanda.
Client goals vary widely and may include obtaining bilingual mental health services from Las Cumbres’ clinicians or from partner agencies. Clients may also require medical care, which is difficult to access for clients who are ineligible for health insurance. (WINGS is currently working to hire a part-time medical coordinator.)
The WINGS team also supports clients by connecting them to no-cost immigration legal representation through the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center. In addition, the program conducts community integration activities – sharing meals together, visiting the Albuquerque Zoo, or engaging in other local activities together as a community. “Every person’s needs are different,” says Montany. As a result, the WINGS program does not place a time limit on its services; instead, provision of care is based on the individual’s specific needs and goals, both of which are reassessed every six months.
Scaling Up
This first year, WINGS aims to serve 90 clients. After factoring in expected turnover – when clients are no longer in need of WINGS services – the program plans to serve a rolling average of 145 clients per year.
Montany is quick to note that this is a very small fraction of the need in New Mexico – which is why WINGS also collaborates with and trains community organizations, expanding the state’s network of care to support trauma-informed services for survivors of torture and their families. As the state’s only Survivors of Torture program, WINGS plans to grow its services, expand its community networks, and continue serving vulnerable communities throughout all of New Mexico.
Staff Spotlight – Julia Montany
Julia Montany, WINGS Program Manager
Julia Montany serves as the WINGS Program Manager. She joins Las Cumbres after nearly four years as the Vulnerable Population Program Manager at Lutheran Family Services in Albuquerque, where she designed and oversaw WINGS’ predecessor program, managing their Intensive Case Management program and the state’s Trafficking Victims Assistance Program for refugee and migrant survivors.
Julia holds an MA in Human Services Counseling for Crisis Response and Trauma and a BA in Psychology. In 2023, she will complete her Ph.D. in International Psychology with a Trauma Concentration. She also holds certificates on Healing Survivors of Torture from Harvard University and Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience from Eastern Mennonite University. Julia’s previous experience includes developing and managing a trauma healing program for 123 children affected by violence in Northern Nigeria and working with children affected by HIV/AIDS in South Africa.
Staff Spotlight – Isabel Spafford
Isabel Spafford, Family Navigator
Isabel Spafford holds a BA in Arabic and International Studies from the University of Mississippi.
Prior to joining Las Cumbres, she served as a case manager at Lutheran Family Services in Albuquerque. In that role, she provided services to over 30 refugees and 80 asylum seekers in multiple languages, assisting clients in accessing public benefits and other resources.
Isabel is fluent in Swahili, Spanish, Arabic, and English.