Encounters at the Crossroads

The Story:

In 2019, Umbral received an invitation to partner with groups, organizations and faith communities who were accompanying refugees and migrants at the Mexican border.  In a conversation with a community leader in Tijuana, the need for more trauma care and psychologists was shared.  Although we could not provide more psychologists we pondered how we might be able to offer psychosocial support training to existing leaders to help mitigate the impact of trauma and create a wider network of care.  The question became, “how might we create an intentional response from Mexico to Mexico?”  International groups were arriving from outside and providing needed support and it was our hope to accompany the many Mexican leaders and humanitarian workers who were also responding to the need within their community and context, based on the wisdom and innovation from Latin America.

# of refugees & migrants at Mexican borders

A record 130,863 people also applied for refugee status in Mexico in 2021, the third-highest number in the world according to the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR.

Between 2014 and 2019, the number of asylum applications registered in the country increased from 2,137 to 70,418 — an increase of more than 3,000 percent, according to the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance, or COMAR.

The Encrucijadas project was designed as a rapid intervention project created to provide space for safety and stabilization through well-intentioned arts-based exercises, reflections, and movement activities that are based in trauma-informed best practices.  Encrucijadas trains frontline workers, volunteers, and leaders who are providing support at the border in trauma-informed psychosocial support interventions. 

Umbral began its Encrucijada Project through a training hosted by the Borderland Fund and other organizations in Tijuana in January of 2020. The training was implemented with 25 participants which included volunteers, directors of shelters, local NGOs and professors and students from the University of Baja California.  A pilot team was formed in which 4 Encrucijadas groups were implemented in 4 different shelters in February of the same year.  The leaders of the groups, known as “animadores” in the project, reported an increase in connection between participants, enhanced regulation of emotions and increased levels of self-awareness after the pilot group.  The team was excited about the pilot and eager to continue.  However due to Covid-19 the next phase of the project was put on hold.  Umbral was able to pivot in order to respond to the emerging global crisis and offered emergency training online with the groups in Tijuana for ongoing response in the shelters.  The pilot group implemented additional Encrucijadas groups online with 2 shelters during the stay-at-home orders.  

In May of 2021 Umbral returned to the border of Tijuana organizing the next phase for partners there for the fall of 2021.  In June, Umbral also initiated a second partnership and pilot with the United Nations funded shelter, Hospitality & Solidarity in Tapachula Mexico at the Guatemala and Mexico border, providing the opportunity to learn and explore impact at the Northern and Southern border. 

Through these trainings, new Encrucijadas groups have popped up in various locations, an organization has integrated components of the project into their mobile psychological unit, which brings mobile psychological services to different shelters, and others have used the practices for their own self-care and sustainability in the midst of difficulty.

One of the key pieces of this response was to co-design a rapid response together with those who are working daily at the border.  These leaders know their context and are creatively responding to numerous diverse situations.  Connecting their knowledge and experience with the frame of the arts opens up space for possibility, partnership and new ways of thinking.  Using a popular education framework, the project continuously integrates new learnings and adaptations into its design so that Encrucijadas ultimately becomes a unique toolkit for the borderlands.

Next Steps:  Scale up!