The TRACE Lab advances interdisciplinary research on systemic and intergenerational trauma, with a focus on refugee and Muslim family experiences.
Our work integrates relational, cultural, and spiritual frameworks to understand how trauma is experienced, transmitted, and healed across family and community contexts, with implications for mental health practice, education, and policy.
To advance equity-centered, community-informed approaches to understanding and addressing trauma across generations and systems, with a focus on relational processes, cultural context, and healing.
Conduct interdisciplinary research on intergenerational and systemic trauma
Develop culturally responsive frameworks and interventions for clinical and community settings
Train clinicians, educators, and community partners to implement equity-centered approaches
Translate research into practice, policy, and education
Our work is grounded in collaboration with communities and aims to advance more equitable and culturally responsive systems of care.
We conceptualize trauma as a relational and systemic experience rather than an individual pathology. Our work prioritizes family systems, intergenerational processes, and community connections.
We center culturally grounded and spiritually informed frameworks, recognizing that healing is shaped by belief systems, traditions, and community contexts.
We examine how structural and sociopolitical forces shape trauma exposure and access to care. Our work is committed to advancing equity in research, policy, and practice.
We value collaboration with communities and aim to produce research that is meaningful, accessible, and responsive to real-world needs.
We develop frameworks and research that directly inform clinical work, education, and policy, with an emphasis on practical application and impact.
We engage across disciplines, including family science, mental health, public health, and education, to address complex and layered experiences of trauma.
We prioritize the voices, lived experiences, and knowledge of communities in shaping research questions, interpretation, and application.
Founded by Zamzam Dini, PhD, LMFT, the TRACE Lab is an interdisciplinary research and training lab focused on systemic and intergenerational trauma. The lab examines how trauma is experienced, interpreted, and transmitted across family, cultural, and sociopolitical systems, with particular attention to refugee and Muslim communities.
The TRACE Lab develops and applies culturally and spiritually grounded frameworks, including the Intergenerational Refugee Contextual Stress Model (IRCSM) and the IntraFamily Trauma Interactions (IFTI) framework, to inform research, clinical practice, and community-based interventions.
Research Areas
Intergenerational trauma and family systems
Refugee mental health and adaptation
Muslim trauma, meaning-making, and spirituality
Structural and sociopolitical impacts on mental health
Refugee Family Relational Health and Adaptation (RFAH) Project
A research program examining intergenerational stress, family socialization, and systemic resilience processes among refugee families, guided by the Intergenerational Refuge Contextual Stress Model (IRCSM) and Intrafamily Trauma Interactions (IFTI) frameworks to understand how trauma and adaptation unfold across generations.
Muslim Trauma and Relational Systems Project
A research initiative advancing a culturally and spiritually grounded framework for understanding trauma in Muslim individuals and families, focusing on meaning-making, relational processes, and healing through Islamic perspectives and practices.
The TRACE Lab is actively engaged in research examining how trauma is experienced and navigated across sociopolitical and cultural contexts, with a focus on refugee and Muslim communities.
The Impact of Immigration Enforcement on Refugee Family Systems in Minnesota
This study examines how immigration enforcement actions, including ICE raids, shape family dynamics, perceptions of safety, and mental health among refugee communities in Minnesota. Using a qualitative approach, the project explores how families make meaning of and respond to enforcement-related stressors, with attention to intergenerational impacts and community-level resilience. This work has implications for policy, clinical practice, and community-based interventions.
Muslim Trauma and Meaning-Making Through Islamic Teachings
This study explores how Muslim individuals understand and make meaning of trauma through Islamic teachings and practices. Focusing on relational, cultural, and spiritual processes, the project aims to inform more culturally and spiritually responsive approaches to mental health care and community-based healing. This work contributes to the development of culturally and spiritually grounded trauma frameworks.
The TRACE Lab welcomes students and collaborators interested in trauma, family systems, and culturally responsive research. Opportunities include research assistantships, collaborative projects, and mentorship in culturally responsive and community-engaged research.
Publications
The TRACE Lab produces interdisciplinary scholarship on trauma, family systems, and culturally responsive mental health, with a focus on refugee and Muslim communities.
Selected Publications
Dini, Z. (2025). Communication is socialization: Understanding family socialization patterns across three generations of Somali-American refugee families. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2025.2596975
Dini, Z., & Mussa, S. K. (2025). Intergenerational trauma in refugee families: A scoping review of contextual and systemic perspectives. Journal of Family Theory & Review. https://doi.org/10.1111/jftr.70013
Dini, Z., & Solheim, C.A. (2024). Making Sense of Complexity in Refugee Family Systems: Second-Generation Somali and Hmong Refugee Adults’ Reflections on Their Relationships with Their First-Generation Refugee Parents. International Journal of Systemic Therapy, 1–29. https://doi.org/10.1080/2692398X.2024.2403851
Manuscripts Under Review
Dini, Z., Mussa, S. K., Sharma, S., & Muse, Z. Bridging the Silence: Trauma and Healing Among 1.5 Generation East African Refugees.
Dini, Z. "We are two different tribes living together”: Racial and Ethnic Socialization as a Family Process in Refugee Communities.
Current Research and Emerging Projects
Intergenerational Refugee Contextual Stress Model (IRCSM): A systemic framework of refugee trauma and adaptation
Muslim Trauma and Meaning-Making: A relational and spiritually grounded framework for understanding trauma through Islamic perspectives
The impact of immigration enforcement (ICE) actions on refugee family systems in Minnesota
Zamzam Dini, PhD, LMFT
Founder & Director, TRACE Lab
zamzam@tracelabresearch.org
