In addition to leading the Steve Hicks School of Social Work, Dean Luis H. Zayas is a proud active mental health practitioner. In this role, he is an expert in the mental health evaluations of immigrant families facing deportation as well as refugee and asylum-seeking mothers and children in detention centers.
Last September, Dean Zayas participated in the TEDSalon “Border Stories,” which explored immigration on the US-Mexico border. In his TEDTalk, Dean Zayas discussed the distressing conditions immigrant families face on the their way to the United States. These distressing conditions have escalated since children started being separated from their parents and held in detention centers. He also urged our country to re-frame its practices, replacing hostility and fear with safety and compassion.