Laurie Cook Heffron, PhD, LMSW, is an Associate Professor at 顶级国产视频 in Austin, Texas. She has interest and expertise in the areas of forced migration, domestic and sexual violence, and human trafficking, and her research explores the experiences of, and relationships between, violence against women and migration.
As former Associate Director for Research at the University of Texas at Austin鈥檚 Institute on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (IDVSA), she has contributed to multiple research projects since 2001, including a program evaluation for services to victims of human trafficking, a statewide domestic violence prevalence study, program evaluation of Texas鈥 Non-Report Sexual Assault Forensic Exam Program, and a national pilot program to develop professional and organizational resiliency among child welfare workers. Laurie also worked with IDVSA in completing a study of resettlement experiences among Congolese refugee women and a statewide evaluation on human trafficking and existing laws and social services in collaboration with community organizations and governmental agencies.
Laurie has both direct social work practice and research experience with a variety of immigrant communities, including refugees, survivors of human trafficking, and asylees. Previously, she served as program coordinator for Green Leaf Refugee Services, providing intensive health and emotional health case management services to refugees, victims of trafficking, asylees, and other immigrants in Central Texas. Currently, she provides assessments and serves as an expert witness in immigration cases of women and children seeking T visas, U visas, and asylum based on domestic violence.
Laurie earned a master's and a doctoral degree in Social Work from the University of Texas at Austin and an undergraduate degree in Linguistics from Georgetown University. She has studied in Santiago, Chile, and in Quito, Ecuador, and was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Niger, West Africa.
Academic Appointments
Associate Professor, St. Edward's University, 2021 - present
Director of Social Work Program, St. Edward's University, 2019 - present
Assistant Professor, St. Edward's University, 2016 - 2021
Social Work Field Education Director, St. Edward's University, 2016 - 2019
Lecturer, University of Texas at Austin, 2015-2016
Post-Doctoral Fellow in Immigration & Violence against Women, University of Texas at Austin, 2015-2016
Associate Director for Research, Institute on Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault, University of Texas at Austin, 2010-2015
Languages Spoken
English and Spanish (and rusty French and Hausa)
PhD, University of Texas at Austin, 2015
MSW, University of Texas at Austin, 2002
BS in Linguistics, Georgetown University, 1996
Publications
Wachter, K., Cook Heffron, L., Dalpe, J., Donahue, K. (2021). 鈥淲e weren鈥檛 ready鈥: Provider perspectives on addressing intimate partner violence among refugees and immigrants in the United States. Journal of Family Violence.
Wachter, K., Cook Heffron, L. & Dalpe, J. (2020). 鈥淲here is the women鈥檚 center here?鈥: The role of information in refugee women鈥檚 help seeking for intimate partner violence in a resettlement context. Violence against Women.
Wieling, E., Trejo A., Patterson, J., Weingarten, K., Falicov, C., Hern谩ndez, A., Cook Heffron, L.,Faulkner, M. & Parra-Cardona, J.R. (2020). Standing and Responding in Solidarity with Disenfranchised Immigrant Families in the United States: An Ongoing Call for Action. Journal of Marriage and Family Therapy, 46(4), 561-576.
Wood, L.,Clark, D., Cook Heffron, L., & Voth Schrag, R. (2020). Voluntary,Survivor-Centered Advocacy in Domestic Violence Agencies. Advances in Social Work, 20(1).
Hurtado, G., Cook Heffron, L. & Serrata, J. (2020). Behavioral Health Service Delivery with Immigrants. In Benuto, L., Gonzalez, F. & Singer, J. (Eds.) Handbook of Cultural Factors in Behavioral Health. New York, NY: Springer.
Torres, M., Nsonwu, M., Cook Heffron, L., & Busch-Armendariz, N. (2020). In Dalla, R. & Sabella, D. (Ed.s) Unique Contributions of Social Work in Combatting Human Trafficking. In International Handbook of Human Trafficking: A Multi-disciplinary and Applied Approach. New York, NY: Routledge.
Wachter, K., Dalpe, J., & Cook Heffron, L. (2019). Conceptualizations of Domestic Violence-related Needs among Women Who Resettled to the U.S. as Refugees. Social Work Research.
Wachter, K., Cook Heffron, L., & Dalpe, J. (2019). 鈥淏ack home you just go talk to the family鈥: The role of family among women who seek help for intimate partner violence pre- and post-resettlement to the United States. Journal of Interpersonal Violence.
Cook Heffron, L., Serrata, J. V., & Hurtado, G. (2019). Latina Immigrant Women & Children鈥檚 Well-Being & Access to Services After Detention. National Latin@ Network.
Cook Heffron, L. (2019). "Sal铆a de uno y me met铆 en otro:鈥 Exploring the migration-violence nexus among Central American women. Violence against Women, 25(6), 677-702.
Crea, T., Cook Heffron, L., LaBrenz, C., & Ros Pilarz, A. (2018).
Sulley, C., Wood, L., Cook Heffron, L., Westbrook, L., Levy, N., Donde, S., & Busch-Armendariz, N.B. (2018). At least they鈥檙e workin鈥 on my case? Victim notification in sexual assault 鈥渃old鈥 cases. Journal of Interpersonal Violence.
Marcos, A., Hern谩ndez, A. V., Gonzalez, D., & Cook Heffron, L. (2019). Traversing Violence. In Shepard, R. & Lerman Ginzburg, S. (Eds.) Gender, Health, and Society in Contemporary Latin America and the Caribbean, 177.
Cook Heffron, L. (2018). Sex Trafficking among Immigrant Women in the U.S.: Exploring social work response within a landscape of violence against immigrant women. In Nichols, A., Edmond, T. & Heil, E. (Eds.) Social Work Practice with Survivors of Sex Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation.
Nsonwu, M. B., Cook Heffron, L., Welch-Brewer, C., & Busch-Armendariz, N.B. (2018). Supporting sex-trafficking survivors through a collaborative single-point-of-contact model: Mezzo and micro considerations. In Nichols, A., Edmond, T. & Heil, E. (Eds.) Social Work Practice with Survivors of Sex Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation.
Fong, R., Cook Heffron, L., Wachter, K. (2017). Transnational Practice: Responding to Violence against Immigrant and Refugee Women. In Lundy, M. & Hilado, A. (Eds.) Models for Practice with Immigrants and Refugees: Collaboration, Cultural Awareness, and Integrative Theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishers, Inc.
Zayas, L., Brabeck, Cook Heffron, L., Dreby, J., Calzada, E., Parra-Cardona, J., Dettlaff, A., Heidbrink, L., Perreira, K., & Yoshikawa, H. (2017). Charting Directions for Research on Undocumented and Unaccompanied Immigrant Children and Citizen Children. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 39(4), 412-435.
Wood, L., Cook Heffron, L., Voyles, M.E., & Kulkarni, S. (2017). Playing by the rules: Agency policy and procedure in service experience of IPV survivors. Journal of Interpersonal Violence.
Zayas, L. & Cook Heffron, L. (2016). Disrupting Young Lives: How Detention and Deportation Affect US-Born Children of Immigrants. Children, Youth & Family News, American Psychological Association.
Cook Heffron, L. (2016). Assessing Lethality to Support Asylum Claims Based on Domestic Violence. Domestic Violence Report, 21(6), 91-94.
Cook Heffron, L., Snyder, S., Wachter, K., Nsonwu, M., & Busch-Armendariz, N. (2016). 鈥淪omething is missing here:鈥 Weaving feminist theories into social work practice with refugees. In S. Wendt & N. Moulding (Eds.) Contemporary Feminisms in Social Work Practice. Routledge.