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Aimee Hilado

Assistant Professor, Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy and Practice, University of Chicago

Aimee Hilado, PhD, LCSW, is a ZERO TO THREE Fellow and a member of the ZERO TO THREE Board of Directors. She is an Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago, Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy and Practice.

Dr. Aimee Hilado is an academic, researcher, and clinician specializing in refugee and immigrant populations.

At the University of Chicago, Dr. Hilado’s research centers the impact of immigration trauma, early childhood/adult mental health, and culturally-sensitive clinical practice. This work is informed by years of clinical practice with specific expertise in refugee mental health, infant mental health, and forensic psychological evaluations for asylum seekers. Dr. Hilado’s research focuses on trauma and the mental health needs of immigrant and refugee communities, including the implementation and evaluation of interventions that have demonstrated promise in supporting developmental, health, and mental health outcomes among children and caregivers. From interventions delivered in the home and in community-based organizations to public health responses that are citywide, her research examines strategies to promote mental health and wellbeing within this population. The overarching goal of her work is to increase immigration trauma research, translate scientific rigor into real-world community mental health practice, and use IECMH research to influence immigration and health policy on a local and national level.

Prior to joining the University of Chicago Crown Family School, Dr. Hilado was an Associate Professor of Social Work at Northeastern Illinois University, where she taught and researched issues related to early childhood and adult mental health, immigration trauma, and culturally-sensitive clinical practice with immigrants and refugees. Dr. Hilado is also the founding Clinical Director of the RefugeeOne Wellness Program, a mental health program established in 2011 for refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants in one of the largest resettlement agencies in Chicago. It is the first mental health program in the state that has integrated a home visiting program for trauma-exposed pregnant mothers and families with children under age 3 of refugee/immigrant status. Her work at RefugeeOne extended to clinical practice with tender-age, unaccompanied children.

She presents nationally and publishes in the areas of refugee mental health, IECMH in the context of forcibly displaced populations, and culturally sensitive clinical practice. Her most recent edited book is Models for Practice With Immigrants and Refugees: Collaboration, Cultural Awareness, and Integrative Theory.

Dr. Hilado has also played key roles in community organizing and advocacy, promoting awareness of and access to culturally and linguistically appropriate mental health services. She is the Chair of the Coalition for Immigrant Mental Health, which focuses on these initiatives. As a ZERO TO THREE Fellow, her efforts focus on examining the needs of immigrant/refugee families with very young children and promoting practices and policies that ensure all young children are able to thrive irrespective of immigration status.

Hilado earned her PhD in social work, with distinction, at Loyola University Chicago and a dual master’s in social work and applied child development at Loyola University Chicago and Erikson Institute. She completed her BA, cum laude, in political science at the University of California, San Diego.

 

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