Latest / The Mental Health Evolution / Ep 60: Kids Absorb Everything: Immigration Fear in the Therapy Room, with Val Strunk

Transcript

Ep 60: Kids Absorb Everything: Immigration Fear in the Therapy Room, with Val Strunk · The Mental Health Evolution

0:00
(Transcribed by TurboScribe. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) This podcast is part of the Frederick Podcast
0:02
Network.
0:03
Learn more at listenfrederick.com.
0:05
Welcome to Mental Health Evolution, a podcast about
0:08
what's changing in mental health and why it
0:11
matters.
0:12
I'm your host, Rachel Harrison, inviting you into
0:15
honest conversations with people from all perspectives in
0:18
the field, clinicians, tech founders, investors, insurance companies,
0:22
and all the folks in between.
0:24
Let's explore what's working, what's not, and what's
0:27
next.
0:33
Welcome to the Mental Health Evolution podcast.
0:37
I have just had the privilege of talking
0:40
with Val Strong, who works a lot with
0:42
immigrant families, and our conversation is really about
0:47
what's happening in the world right now with
0:50
immigration is impacting those who are seeking mental
0:55
health care.
0:56
And it was a great conversation.
0:58
I think you will find Val's thoughts and
1:02
her approach very raw, very open.
1:05
She is an immigrant herself and has a
1:08
lot of great insight into kind of what's
1:12
going on.
1:13
And so if you have been aware of
1:16
the impact of this on whole communities and
1:18
certainly on immigrant populations, I encourage you to
1:21
listen in and to think about wherever you
1:24
are in this industry of mental health care,
1:27
how this impacts you, how this might impact
1:31
your policies, how you might be able to
1:34
help.
1:34
So listen in.
1:36
I think it's a good one.
1:37
And if you're looking for some resources, I
1:39
just want to put a little ray of
1:42
hope out there for you that we do
1:43
have an article that talks about how to
1:45
have these conversations at the end of the
1:48
podcast and in the show notes.
1:50
So I encourage you to look at that
1:52
as well.
1:52
Thanks for all the listeners.
1:54
And I hope you love this conversation as
1:56
much as I did.
1:58
Welcome back, everyone, to the Mental Health Evolution
2:02
podcast.
2:03
I'm Rachel Harrison, and today I'm speaking with
2:06
Val Strunk, a licensed social worker, child therapist
2:10
and owner of Wired to Bloom Therapy in
2:12
the Cincinnati area.
2:14
Val specializes in children's mental health and works
2:17
with children and families, including immigrant families, using
2:21
play-based and creative approaches to therapy.
2:25
Val is an immigrant herself and an EMDR
2:28
-trained therapist.
2:29
Her practice is grounded in child-centered trauma
2:32
-informed care with play and creative expression at
2:36
the center of her work.
2:37
We came across her work in Cincinnati Magazine
2:40
this past July and reached out to chat
2:42
with her.
2:43
We're in a moment, as most of you
2:45
know, when immigration enforcement and changes to health
2:49
coverage are creating additional stress for many immigrant
2:52
and mixed-status families.
2:54
Georgetown's Center for Children and Adolescent Families has
2:57
described the convergence of immigration policy changes and
3:01
Medicaid policy changes as a perfect storm for
3:05
children's mental health.
3:07
Val is seeing the effects of these issues
3:08
in her work with children and families, and
3:11
I am really glad to have her here
3:13
to kind of give us an idea of
3:15
what she's seeing and what's coming up and
3:18
what we can do as a collective group
3:21
in this industry to try to address some
3:23
of the stresses coming up for our clients
3:25
and our communities.
3:27
As always, at the end of this episode,
3:29
I will share a few articles and resources
3:32
for anyone who wants to go deeper.
3:35
Val, welcome to the show.
3:37
Thanks for having me.
3:39
Yeah, very excited to be here.
3:41
Great to have you here.
3:42
So I want to jump in a little
3:44
bit here and talk about what you are
3:48
seeing as changes in our communities, in our
3:51
world right now, and how that's impacting the
3:53
populations that you serve.
3:56
So what would you say are some of
3:58
the things you're seeing right now?
4:00
Yeah, so there is a lot of fear
4:02
for sure, confusion, a sense of loss, like
4:06
grief, a lot of just like chaos, a
4:10
sense of chaos.
4:11
That is so much the news, so much
4:15
everywhere.
4:16
And the stage of like the world, like
4:19
the stage of the country now, it feels
4:22
like everything is moving so fast and lots
4:27
of transitions and kids absorb everything and they
4:32
see everything.
4:34
And it is a sense of like, is
4:37
this a safe person to be around?
4:39
Hmm.
4:40
Is this a safe place to go?
4:44
Can I go play?
4:45
Can I go to parks?
4:47
Can I go to school?
4:51
And so I think you bring up such
4:53
a good point that kids absorb everything.
4:55
So I know sometimes as parents or as
4:58
adults, we try to shield them.
5:02
You know, we try to help them feel
5:04
a sense of safety, even if we don't.
5:06
And yes, I'm just thinking about, I mean,
5:11
is that even possible right now?
5:15
And it's a great question.
5:17
Yes and no, right?
5:19
Because I think not just from the therapeutic
5:22
lens, but I am a parent myself and
5:24
like my child, it is a biracial child.
5:28
So when she is with her father, that
5:32
is a white man, she has that layer
5:34
of protection.
5:35
But when she is away from me, that
5:37
layer goes away.
5:39
So we try to make things, like at
5:43
least at my house, try to make things
5:45
like in the age appropriate way that, you
5:49
know, things are happening.
5:51
There are some places that going to those
5:54
places might be a little bit risk to
5:57
go or like we might go out and
6:00
we might see things that doesn't feel good
6:03
to look at, that will be scary to
6:06
us.
6:07
And inside our house, for the limits that
6:11
we have, even with that context, inside our
6:14
house, we are safe.
6:15
And that's what I recommend, like for other
6:20
parents and their families that I try to
6:23
support.
6:24
It's like in here, on this house, we
6:26
are doing what we can to keep us
6:28
safe.
6:28
To keep us informed and to keep us
6:32
protected.
6:32
When we are out, we might need other
6:34
people.
6:35
We're going to be needing a plan sometimes.
6:38
We're going to be need to like to
6:39
looking who is the safe person to go
6:42
to if we need some help.
6:44
And so when we think of the mental
6:47
health industry, I know that for whatever kind
6:51
of work we are all providing, whether it's
6:54
counseling, whether it's substance abuse treatment, whether it's
6:57
inpatient, outpatient, right, all of the whole spectrum
7:01
of that, we are really looking at wanting
7:05
to create safe spaces for our clients, for
7:09
our patients, right?
7:10
All of those things.
7:12
I'm curious if you are seeing any shifts
7:16
in that.
7:17
Does it take longer or is it more
7:20
challenging for people to trust a mental health
7:24
provider?
7:25
And if so, are there ways, things that
7:29
can be done to sort of help that?
7:32
Yes, we are, I don't know, like in
7:35
other areas, but like in our area, like
7:38
we have a big shortage of mental health
7:41
providers right now.
7:42
And the ones that we have right now,
7:46
if they are in private practice, like I
7:49
am, some of them are having like to
7:52
drop some insurance cover and drop Medicaid, which
7:57
is like one of the biggest ones, and
8:00
Medicare, because that was a big cut, or
8:03
reimbursement rates this year.
8:07
And so it is hard to keep business
8:09
open when we are not getting the reimbursement
8:14
from the insurance company.
8:16
So that is my weight because that is
8:20
less of us.
8:21
And when we are available, when we have
8:24
a space, that is a lot of fear
8:28
to come to see us because some of
8:32
the, I have members of the community, like
8:36
reach out direct to me, not as a
8:39
clinician, but like, because I am a little
8:44
bit know around the immigrant community, but like,
8:49
we need help.
8:50
We, like our families, like we need to
8:53
find support.
8:54
And we are afraid we can't leave our
8:58
house.
8:59
Yeah.
9:00
And we don't know what to do.
9:03
And then my hands are tied because we
9:07
can't go to their home to provide services.
9:10
We don't have capacity for that.
9:12
We are a small practice and we can't
9:15
do that.
9:16
And that is not many places that do
9:18
that.
9:19
And the places that do that, they have
9:22
a wait list or not trusting them that
9:26
they'll be safe, even with that perspective.
9:28
Right.
9:29
That's still a person coming to your house,
9:31
which feels pretty vulnerable too.
9:34
Yeah.
9:35
Yeah.
9:36
So, yeah, things are limited right now.
9:40
Yeah.
9:40
And what about telehealth, is that helpful at
9:45
times as a way to mitigate that?
9:47
For sure.
9:48
Yeah.
9:49
The telehealth can be super helpful.
9:51
And because the regulations that we have that
9:56
we have to inform them, you know, like
9:58
we can't be like, I mean, that is
10:01
protection in there.
10:02
People protect that.
10:03
But also that is that fear like, well,
10:07
even with that, you're going to need information
10:08
from me.
10:09
We're going to need to know some of
10:13
the information that I don't know if I
10:14
can and I'm ready to share.
10:17
Right.
10:17
Right.
10:19
That's I mean, that's just a tough barrier
10:22
to overcome.
10:23
The needs are there.
10:24
That Georgetown article called it the perfect storm,
10:28
right, of of impact enforcement on communities and
10:31
also Medicaid cuts hitting at the same time.
10:35
Yes.
10:35
And I want to even broaden the scope
10:39
for how is this impacting our communities overall?
10:43
Like, yes, I understand that an ICE raid
10:46
impacts immigrant communities much more significantly than someone
10:51
that doesn't feel as risk as at risk
10:54
for that status.
10:55
But I'll give you an example.
10:57
There was an incident in my community where
11:00
there were ICE agents staking out a house
11:04
and there were several people that were trying
11:06
to act as a barrier.
11:08
Right.
11:08
Like literally like sitting in the road, like,
11:11
yeah, like a physical barrier.
11:13
And there was some violence that occurred there.
11:16
Yeah.
11:17
And so, I mean, this is yes, communities
11:21
are trying to support.
11:23
And the the impact is community wide, like
11:27
because this is happening in our community.
11:29
Like, I mean, I think there's a sense
11:31
of feeling a violation of what used to
11:36
be considered a sacred space, right, or freedoms
11:40
that we have or protections that we had.
11:43
And I've had so many people in our
11:45
community reach out to me, not only just
11:49
as clients, but even as organizations in the
11:52
community saying we've had so many people impacted
11:56
by this.
11:56
Like, what do we do?
11:58
Yes, because if you are trying to support
12:01
or if you are like at least, I
12:03
mean, aware of what is happening, it's going
12:06
to be affecting you in some ways.
12:08
With kids, especially if they are not so
12:14
much informed or aware of what is happening,
12:18
they see people with uniforms and they see
12:22
them being armed.
12:24
They associate that as law enforcement.
12:27
Yeah.
12:28
So that is creating a lot of like
12:30
incongruency.
12:31
Like, am I supposed to trust the police
12:35
or am I supposed to be scared of
12:37
the police?
12:38
And I see that a lot with like,
12:41
because I do client-centered play therapy, the
12:44
words are not so much what I'm watching.
12:46
I'm watching what they are playing.
12:48
And I have like a sentry and lots
12:51
of battles have been built on that sentry,
12:55
lots of bad guy versus good guy.
12:59
But almost like the bad guys have turned
13:02
like that, like what is represented to be
13:06
the bad guys now is not so much
13:08
what you'd consider to be on that side
13:12
of the tray.
13:13
So it is a lot of confusion for
13:16
the minimal.
13:17
It's that.
13:17
And also have kids that they have asked
13:21
like the parents, like they are playing with
13:24
their friends that like are brown friends or
13:27
like they are the friends that are not
13:29
from here.
13:30
Or like in my child, she is half
13:33
Latina.
13:33
So in cases like that, like if someone
13:37
come to take them, if they're going to
13:39
go to.
13:41
So it's creating fear to not like only
13:45
immigrant kids, but also to the American white
13:49
kids as well.
13:51
And another aspect is kids see everything and
13:56
kids absorb everything.
13:58
They are seeing this division like that is
14:02
them versus us.
14:05
And they are thinking that is this what
14:10
community looks like?
14:12
So it's a lot of figuring out right
14:16
now.
14:16
And what we're building right now, it's going
14:19
to shape generations and generations.
14:22
So if we can just, you know, like
14:24
antagonize that, what's going to be for the
14:27
next generation?
14:28
What is going to be for the next
14:30
generation of kids that was living on this
14:33
estate?
14:34
So what do you think we can do?
14:37
I know it's kind of like a big
14:38
question and you may not have a full
14:41
answer, right?
14:42
I mean, I think it's legit to just
14:44
talk about this because there are pieces of
14:47
this that are not in our control, certainly
14:50
as mental health providers, as community members and
14:54
certainly the children that are impacted by this.
14:58
But what are some things that we can
15:02
do specifically, I think, in the mental health
15:04
care industry where I feel like people are
15:07
pretty aware and in the know that this
15:11
has an impact for services and things like
15:14
that?
15:15
Any thoughts on what might be useful there?
15:17
Yeah, I think spending accessibility when they have
15:22
capacity, you know, offering a lot of the
15:25
families, even a low income rate, they might
15:29
not have that.
15:30
So if people have capacity to do it
15:33
and have like few spaces for that, that
15:36
is helpful if people can do advocacy, especially
15:40
like in your area.
15:41
And I am a social worker and like
15:45
people that can do that, that are working
15:47
behind the scenes and continue to advocate and
15:52
just trying to listen, like go around, go
15:57
meet your neighbors, like talk to them, you
16:01
know, that is the thing.
16:02
People, they are absorbing things from the news
16:07
and that is a great way to keep
16:09
us informed.
16:11
But also it is what is being brought
16:14
up to us, like immigrants, we are just
16:18
people like anyone else.
16:21
If you don't know something, your brain goes
16:26
to, you know, protection mode.
16:29
So the fear that we have around like
16:33
having immigrants comes from the fear of the
16:36
unknown.
16:37
Go talk to immigrants, like understand their stories,
16:42
go learn from them, go educate yourself direct
16:47
from the source and not from what you're
16:50
seeing from the news and see that we're
16:54
not here to take anybody's job.
16:56
We're not here to create fear.
16:58
We are here just to live together, to
17:01
support, like I have a business, you know,
17:05
like we can do that.
17:06
We can support the community that we live
17:10
in and we can be helpful, too.
17:13
It's not us versus them.
17:16
We can all live together.
17:18
We can all build a better community together.
17:23
Yeah.
17:24
Is there a way for any health care
17:28
organization to communicate an intention to create a
17:35
safe space?
17:37
I mean, you gave an example earlier for
17:40
folks that are calling you.
17:41
And even that is I mean, you have
17:44
the advantage of saying, I am an immigrant,
17:47
too, right?
17:48
I would think there's some implied safety in
17:52
that for sure.
17:53
But anything you can think of that can
17:56
be done to bridge that?
17:57
I think about the fact that while we
18:01
as mental health professionals can't solve the situation
18:04
alone of like what's going on, we do
18:07
have tools that can support and help people
18:12
living through very challenging times.
18:14
Yeah, that's true.
18:16
I do know from the NASW that, you
18:21
know, there are lots of efforts in there
18:23
because not only on the advocacy part, but
18:26
also like to bring awareness and advocate for
18:31
more accessibility in schools.
18:34
Sometimes they have like the clinicians at the
18:37
school.
18:37
So if the child is going to the
18:39
school, that is an option in there.
18:41
You know, if they are able to go
18:43
to school, that is that we get the
18:45
barrier of them leave the house because they
18:48
are right there.
18:49
From like my perspective here at WIRED, we're
18:53
trying to like we are doing a lot
18:57
of community outreach and like we kind of
19:00
like are trying to meet with other clinicians
19:03
in the area and, you know, like not
19:06
just from their website.
19:09
We are going to their practice.
19:10
We are going to their agencies and we
19:12
are looking not from just the trauma form
19:16
lens, but from a neuroform lens.
19:18
Are they really true what they are saying
19:21
they are like?
19:22
Can we trust them to because if we
19:24
can trust them to make a referral to
19:27
them, then I have confidence to be like,
19:30
hey, this is a trust agency.
19:32
This is a trust practice that could be
19:34
an option for support for you and your
19:37
family and takes a lot of commitment and
19:40
a lot of like, you know, effort.
19:43
And because I'm also on this stage of
19:47
like, I really need reassurance that this can
19:50
be a trust source.
19:52
So that's the way that I am doing
19:56
is that like I just look what they
19:59
say.
20:00
I go and I do a little bit
20:01
of investigation myself.
20:03
I like that.
20:05
With that, we are just about out of
20:09
time, but I'd love to hear from you
20:12
directly if there's something that our listeners, you
20:15
would like to kind of leave with them,
20:17
kind of highlight and take away from this
20:19
conversation today.
20:20
What would that be?
20:22
I think if they are in a place
20:24
of privilege, where is the color, their financial
20:28
status or just in a place that they
20:31
can do things and not have the fear
20:34
of like this might cost me my life
20:38
at this moment, do something, you know, like
20:41
even just a smile to someone that you
20:45
can clearly see that they are an immigrant,
20:48
like give them that smile and let them
20:52
know that you believe that they should be
20:55
here.
20:56
Appreciate that.
20:56
Val, thank you so much for being here
20:59
today and for talking about a subject that
21:02
is certainly impacting all of our communities and
21:05
pretty challenging to talk about.
21:08
So I appreciate you being here.
21:09
You want to learn more about Val and
21:12
her work.
21:13
We will have all of the information in
21:15
our show notes.
21:16
So this conversation has been really awesome.
21:20
Yeah.
21:20
Thanks for being here.
21:22
Thank you.
21:22
Thanks for giving me space.
21:24
Absolutely.
21:25
Appreciate it.
21:25
Absolutely.
21:27
For our guests that want to hear a
21:31
little bit more about our resources, articles that
21:35
go with this episode, I'm excited to show
21:39
you some of the content here.
21:42
And I encourage you to dig into it.
21:43
The first is the Cincinnati magazine profile of
21:46
Val herself, published this past July called The
21:50
Cost of Living Afraid.
21:51
It is the article that first brought Val
21:53
to our attention.
21:55
And it's a beautiful and sobering window into
21:57
the work that she's doing.
21:59
The second article is from the American Immigration
22:02
Council, published in August 2026, called Fear as
22:07
a Policy, the Growing Toll of Mass Deportation
22:11
Policies.
22:12
It includes some of the most current data
22:14
available, including that nearly 17,900 ICE detentions
22:20
in fiscal year 2026 self-reported as parents
22:24
of U.S. citizen children, almost double the
22:28
number from fiscal year 2024.
22:31
And the third article from the Georgetown Center
22:34
for Children and Families, published in January 2026,
22:37
called The Perfect Storm, How Immigration and Medicaid
22:40
Policy Changes Are Exacerbating a Student Mental Health
22:44
Crisis.
22:44
It captures the compounding effect of two major
22:47
policy shifts hitting the same families at the
22:51
same time.
22:52
And the fourth is a study published in
22:54
the Journal of the American Academy of Child
22:56
and Adolescent Psychiatry in July 2026, focused specifically
23:01
on how clinicians can help parents facilitate conversations
23:05
with their children about immigration enforcement and family
23:08
separation.
23:09
If you work with this population or think
23:11
you might, this one might be really useful
23:14
for you.
23:15
Thanks for listening to the Mental Health Evolution
23:17
podcast, and we'll see you next time.
23:20
Thanks for listening to the Mental Health Evolution
23:23
podcast.
23:24
Join the conversation, find us on socials, send
23:27
us your thoughts and tell us what you
23:29
are seeing in your corner of the mental
23:30
health world.
23:31
Until next time, stay curious and keep evolving.