During a massive influx of unaccompanied and separated children to the US-Mexico border, the Adolescent Kit was adapted and utilized to support the psychosocial well-being of adolescents in Emergency Intake Sites (EIS) operated by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Based on needs assessment data collected at the largest EIS (in 2021) in El Paso Texas, a contextualized action plan was developed and Adolescent Kit resources were compiled to support personnel working directly with adolescents to provide adolescents opportunities to learn and recover from stress and other challenging events experienced on their journeys.
A manual on Psychosocial Support Circles for Adolescents, developed through the location and population specific contextualization of Adolescent Kit approaches and activities, has been incorporated into UNICEF’s Migration Learning series (2021/2022) and ongoing programming for use by organizations supporting migrants throughout the US. UNICEF has conducted training workshops with implementing partners of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) to support their capacity to the manual in other programme settings.
After the initial Learning series workshops, partners, in both border and interior locations within the country, continue to have ongoing interest in the manual and program. Trained border and interior location partners have begun integrating and implementing Kit programming within their settings based on the context specific manual and workshops.
