Tatiana Londoño is a doctoral candidate at the Steve Hicks School of Social Work. She is a first-generation Latina student born in Colombia and raised in Miami, Florida. Tatiana graduated from Vassar College with a B.A. in Neuroscience and Behavior and from The University of Texas at Austin with an M.S.S.W. She has received funding from various sources such as the UT OLLI NOVA Diversity Scholarship, the UT Graduate School Fellowship, the UT Provost Fellowship, the St. David’s Foundation, the Integrated Behavioral Health Scholars program and QuestBridge.
Tatiana’s research interests focus on how migration-related experiences and stressors affect the mental health and wellbeing of Latine/x immigrant children and their families. She is particularly interested in how these experiences may contribute to various outcomes, such as distress and post-traumatic growth, in immigrant children and how family processes can mitigate some of these outcomes. Her long-term goal is to incorporate her research into brief preventative interventions accessible to immigrant populations.
Professionally, Tatiana has worked in various settings such as schools and integrated primary care clinics providing services to mostly Spanish-speaking families who experienced immigration-related trauma. Her tasks ranged from providing youth individual and group counseling, to supporting low-income families with case management, parenting psychoeducation, and behavioral health services. As Tatiana observed the barriers of immigrants in these contexts, she realized her passion resided in working with these populations. As a doctoral student, Tatiana continues to help immigrant families in detention prepare for the credible fear interview and orient asylum-seeking families at bus stations and resource centers in Texas.
Tatiana’s previous research projects include: (1) exploring the effects of prolonged detention of asylum-seeking children and families from Central America; (2) examining the effects of immigration enforcement on U.S. citizen children of undocumented Mexican parents; (3) investigating service experiences of youth transitioning from child to adult mental health systems; (4) studying depression and suicidality among Mexican-American children and youth; and (5) assessing smoking dependence among Spanish-speaking Latine/x smokers. Currently, she is working on two studies funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH): one with Dr. Lauren E. Gulbas and Dr. Luis H. Zayas on why adolescent Latinas attempt suicide more than other females, and the second with Dr. Rubén Parra-Cardona on culturally adapting a parenting intervention through the integration of immigration-related challenges, discrimination, and biculturalism. She is also helping with a brief suicide intervention clinical trial for LGBTQ+ young adults funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). More recently, she led the analysis of a campus-wide survey on assessing the needs of undocumented students at UT and, with the Rooted Collective Task Force at UT, drafted a proposal in support of a center for undocumented students. Tatiana will also evaluate the Mental Health Collaborative at Girasol, a UT program that serves Texas immigrant children and families and educates service providers working with immigrant populations. Tatiana’s work is published in Family Process, The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, Health Psychology, Journal of Adolescent Research, Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, and Social Work in Mental Health. Her ultimate goal is to positively impact both immigration policy and social work practice with immigrant families.
Professional Interests
Mental health and wellbeing of Latinx immigrant families; impact of immigration-related and sociocultural stressors on family functioning and experiences of distress among adolescents; cultural adaptation of preventative interventions for immigrant families.