As a director of a community-based organization who works predominantly with immigrants and refugees, Lucy Morse Roberts noticed immigrant clients and colleagues were often experiencing ill-defined malaise, headaches, and insomnia. After visiting doctors, the immigrant clients and colleagues were still unwell. She and her team sought to understand and address this suffering and seek ways to heal. Research on migratory mournings by Joseba Achotegui offered her team one lens through which to understand and better respond to the physical and psychological ailments experienced by immigrant and refugee clients. Achotegui’s research, including that on the Ulysses Syndrome and cultural and situational responsiveness, directly changed the programming and priorities at Hui International under Lucy Morse Roberts’ leadership. This article first defines migratory mournings and the Ulysses Syndrome. Second, the article offers community partners’ personal and professional insight as to how and why this research is relevant and transformative. Lastly, the article offers an organizational framework for effective application and intentional community engagement.

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), potentially traumatic life events that may occur during childhood (i.e., abuse, neglect, and household challenges), affect as many as 58% of children in the United States. Evidence suggests that interventions focused on strengthening individual, family, and community level protective factors could help mitigate the negative effects of ACEs on children’s development and potentially reduce overall exposure to ACEs. While parent education programs often target ACEs prevention at the individual level (i.e., only the parents or the child), peer-to-peer support groups can go a step further to help build protective factors at the individual, family, and community levels. The current study evaluated Lead4Tomorrow’s Family Hui 12-week program, a peer-led parenting program, before and after the addition of ACEs and resilience materials. In post-participation ratings of program participants, parents who completed the Family Hui program that included ACEs and resilience materials (the Bloom curriculum; n = 235) reported overall better learning outcomes and program ratings than those who completed the program before these materials were added (the original curriculum; n = 235). Importantly, non-English speaking parents (those who were administered the Farsi or Spanish versions of the curriculum) benefited as much as, if not more, than English-speaking parents. Future research should investigate the long-term effects of the Family Hui program and the Bloom curriculum on family and community ACEs related outcomes and compare the effects of peer-led parenting programs and other ACEs prevention approaches.