More than six months after Operation Metro Surge ended in Minnesota, many Somali community members are still navigating the anxiety and fear it caused.
Despite the stigma in Somali culture around Western-style mental health care, the barrage of anti-Somali rhetoric and sometimes-violent immigration crackdown has led more Somalis to seek therapy.
Ashwak Hassan, a marriage and family therapist based in Minneapolis, said she saw an influx of calls beginning in October. Mixed-status families in particular showed an increase in “anxiety, depression and social isolation,” she said…