Losing her mom at a tender age and relocating shortly after to a new country have helped Dr Tricia Van Rossum to understand how affected children are by events of their childhood, which may be why she now works with children suffering from mental health issues.

Many people are suffering mentally from the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Dr Van Rossum does not want the mental effects of the disease on children to be forgotten and urged that parents pay attention to their children even as they try to navigate the new norms.

“I often tell people, it is purpose, it is destiny, it is sort of, I kinda got led down that path… In the sense I was sitting in psychology class in the US in my eleventh grade in high school and I turned to my friend and said, ‘I am going to be a psychologist’…,” she recalled.

While she is not a psychologist, she still does private therapy as she has a PhD in counselling studies. She is also a licensed clinical social worker and she has a private practice where she provides therapy to both adults and children, but her specialty is children. It was after she completed her bachelor’s degree in psychology that she examined social work, which looks at the environment that contributes to the mental health of a person and she chose that road.

“I took a different route to still do the same thing…,” she pointed out.

“Looking back on life, I realise it was just meant to be. One of the things people don’t realise is that we go through different things in our lives. I lost my mom when I was really young, which was one of the catalysts for us moving to America. So the loss of my mother in addition to the loss of my culture because having to leave your country, your culture and moving to a new country is a major transition that can be overwhelming,” she explained during a virtual interview.

That experience and others she gained over the years, Van Rossum believes, placed her in a position to understand that people don’t always pay attention to how things are affecting children.

“So I feel that it is all kind of purposeful and destiny fulfilled, something I have been wanting to do and I like doing it,” she further said.

She was just eight years old when she lost her mom, the youngest of three children and the only girl. Once her mother passed, her paternal grandmother decided that her dad needed support in raising them and sent for them. Within less than a year, they were in the US.

“So we were, my brothers and I, experiencing two losses, the loss of a parent and the loss of culture, the loss of what we were used to,” she emphasized.

Many people dream of migrating to the US and while the therapist does not see it as a bad thing, she pointed out that oftentimes what is not taken into consideration is the transition such as the

different accent and the climate, which makes the world completely different for children who have to make the transition.

Adjustment of school

Zeroing on the impact of COVID-19 on children, Van Rossum said the main thing is the adjustment which now sees them engaging in school on a computer or some other electronic device.

She noted that children are in an age where they are computer savvy and it was not hard for them to learn the new form but what was difficult was the lack of socialisation. The work at times would be more intense but they do not have the same kind of support as their teachers are not physically present nor do they have others around them to speak with. The settings are also not the best as there are times when many people are using the internet, slowing it down and increasing the frustration among some children.

“One of the biggest impacts was that a lot of them received food and certain types of resources through school. So that being removed they didn’t have those resources,” she noted.

Also people were not considering how children were

being impacted which she believes was not intentional as everyone was going through something. The children have had a hard time adjusting to a lack of socialisation, lack of resources and the lack of support.

Von Rossum encourages parents to be patient with their children as she pointed out that even though in some countries people are being vaccinated and things are moving back to some semblance of normalcy it would take a while.

She has heard some parents express the concern that their children have fallen behind and she is asking them to be patient with their children, advocate for them, and ask for additional resources from school professionals.

“Ask them what they are going to do to address children who may be behind…,” she suggests.

She also recommended that parents talk to their children to ascertain how they are affected as at times the biggest issue is that no one is talking with the children.

“We are so busy moving forward trying to get things done, parents are trying to make sure bills are paid and they are handling everything and so no one is checking in with the child… Check in with your child, ask them how they are feeling, do they understand what is going on…,” she said.

Parents should also find other children their children could be around, such as a friend that they miss, and see if they can spend some safe time with the child or children. Also, she encourages parents to find other healthy things to do with their children and spend time doing something they enjoy, such as some kind of physical activity.

“Get to know your child, find out how they respond when you spend time with them. How do they respond when you say positive things to them? How do they respond when you just go up to them, give them a hug? Do they like it? Are you connecting with your child in various ways so that they can feel loved?” she asked.

She pointed out that the world does not feel very safe and parents should get to know their children and understand what makes their child feel safe and do more of that.

While she does not have children, Von Rossum says, she has a stepdaughter, a godson and a host of nieces and nephews and as a result she is around children a lot. And she reaches out to those children and makes herself available and if they need something or need to get away she attempts to ensure resources are available to support them and she also encourages their parents in the same light.

Parents should look at how much screen time children are having because they are before a screen for schooling and as such things must be found to get them away from the screen so that it does not become their only form of communication. Parents, she said, should think about how so much screen time impacts how a child relates to someone in person.

The family and system

Dr Von Rossum said choosing the route she took to where she is today was influenced by her looking at the family and systems that people are exposed to in their lives that may contribute to the problems they face and also to assist them in addressing those problems.

While completing her Master’s Degree in Social Work, she had internships at a hospital that treated children hospitalized for mental health reasons and at a college centre that dealt with young adults. Following her Masters she worked at a children’s centre that treated mental health issues caused by trauma such as witnessing violent crimes or abuse, among other things. She later obtained her licence, which she said is pretty much the same as her being a psychologist as she can now practice independently as a clinical social worker.

Over the years, she provided community service at a therapeutic day treatment centre working with children and later at a residential treatment centre that catered for children who were not safe enough to be in the community and were undergoing a targeted focus treatment. She also worked with adolescent boys who were sexually aggressive and were at the centre because they had sexually abused someone. It was following this that she became a certified sex offender treatment provider.

She became interested in this type of work as she found that most of the adolescents she worked with revealed that they were sexually abused by a woman.

“That stood out for me and I decided that I wanted to learn more and I wanted to specialize more in sexual offending with a focus on female sex offenders and that is what I ended up doing my dissertation on,” she shared.

While she was working on her doctorate, she was employed with the Medicaid agency for an insurance company and she is still employed in this line of work even as she continues to provide part-time outpatient therapy.

Von Rossum was recently in Guyana for personal reasons but she noted that an uncle instilled in them that it is their duty, should they become successful, to take something back to Guyana and implement it.

She has been hearing about the rates of suicide among children in Guyana and it tugs on her heartstrings. She is interested in finding ways to provide education and support to children here and helping them with their mental health.

“It is something that I am looking into; to find ways to help to provide support…,” she said.

The therapist cautioned persons about the language they use when referring to people with mental health issues, pointing out that it is just as if someone has diabetes or any other illness that needs to be treated. She said persons should not be ashamed to access treatment because if they have a flu or a cold that is not going away they would visit a doctor and as such it is the same thing with mental health.

“A lot of times we don’t realise a lot of our physical symptoms are linked to where we are mentally…,” she pointed out.

She is currently working on expanding her Jemina Counseling and Consulting business, which was started in January of last year, and focuses on providing mental health training and education to individuals and agencies, providing mental health treatment and assisting with identifying and developing wellness and recovery goals.

“I am definitely blessed and lucky to be doing something that is fulfilling, that is rewarding, that is my purpose and it just also happens to be my profession. I know that that’s not always the case because sometimes we do what we have to do but this is what I am supposed to do,” she said.

She may one day become an educator and teach in universities and train other professionals which is very important to her as well.