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Rosicely Briseida Bartolon immigrated to Fresno nearly two years ago, navigating a complicated journey with her newborn from her native Guatemala to the Central Valley by way of Florida, hoping to build a better life for her now 2-year-old son.
As she began searching for support and resources in Fresno, Bartolon discovered the United We Lead Foundation, where she and her son attended Social Emotional Learning classes twice a week for nearly two months.
“We came here with the dream of building a better future, but there’s also pain in leaving everything we’ve ever known,” said Bartolon. “The classes helped me process that and taught me how to better support my son. Now, I feel more confident seeking out additional resources and support.”
Bartolon said she came to the U.S. not only to find work, but also to access better social and mental support for both herself and her child—support she said is essential to survival.
Mental health workers in Fresno and across the Central Valley have seen a rise in new clients seeking support in response to a surge in immigration arrests, following a White House directive aiming for 3,000 arrests per day.
As immigration arrests continue, many mental health professionals are supporting clients with culturally responsive, trauma-informed care.
Mental health workers navigate immigration threats
Sonia Arreguin, clinical director at SJET Clinical Services, said that about half of her current caseload includes new referrals for children whose parents are at risk of deportation.
She attributed the recent increase to growing fear and trauma caused by heightened immigration raids and the uncertainty surrounding them.
“These kids are carrying the fear that their parents could be taken away at any moment,” Arreguin said. “They don’t want to show their parents how scared they are, so they’re turning to therapy to process it all: the fear, the anxiety, even the anger. I’m also noticing signs of survivor’s guilt.”
Arreguin said that, in the past, many people felt disconnected from the issue and were hesitant to respond to something they didn’t completely grasp.
Now, with the raids actively taking place, fear, Arreguin said, has become tangible. What once seemed like a distant concern on the news or in social media, has become a personal and immediate reality.
Arreguin said she is seeing the impact of that fear directly in the communities she supports.
Many of those clients, Arreguin said, are taking the steps to educate themselves and their families about mental health by practicing breathing techniques, using grounding exercises, keeping journals to process their emotions and learning how to identify signs of anxiety and stress.
Ricardo Castorena, president and CEO of Binational of Central California, says many people who come to Binational don’t initially seek mental health services.
Instead, they come looking for basic needs—food, health screenings, or help navigating Medi-Cal. But, Castorena said, those encounters often become the entry point for deeper care.
Castorena said that Binational’s low-pressure approach has proven effective. With support from a grant called “Embrace Care,” designed to provide free mental health services to Latino and farmworker communities, the organization originally aimed to serve 300 people over two years—but ended up reaching 1,400 in just six months.
Many people, Castorena said, started “busting through the doors,” especially because the services are free, require no questions, and are available with or without Medi-Cal.
Yet despite this success, Castorena said, fear in the community is growing. Castorena said many now feel like targets—even those with legal status.
“Right now, based on the current political climate, people feel they have to hide,” Castorena said. “They’re scared to leave their homes, and we’ve even had to change how we promote our services.”
As a result, Castorena said demand for virtual mental health access has jumped by 30%, while in-person visits have declined sharply. Weekly foot traffic at Binational’s office dropped from 1,300 to just a few hundred.
“There’s confusion and fear—people don’t know what’s fact or fiction,” Castorena said. “Even those with status are hesitant to enroll in Medi-Cal or seek care. They assume they’ll be treated as a target just based on their last name or appearance.”
Castorena said that continuing mental health services has become increasingly challenging due to unstable and inconsistent grant funding caused by the political climate.
Five major grants were cut or delayed, and with only two months left on their current funding, the organization recently sold a vehicle to continue covering session costs for about 100 remaining clients.
Since launching in December 2020, the program has provided over 7,000 hours of mental health care to 1,400 participants.
Community partnerships expand reach
Maira Hernandez, a licensed marriage and family therapist based in Clovis, has built her practice around a growing need in the Central Valley: trauma-informed care and immigration-related forensic evaluations for Latino and immigrant families.
In her dual role as a therapist and forensic evaluator, Hernandez conducts psychological assessments for a variety of immigration-related cases, including asylum claims, Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) petitions, T visas for human trafficking survivors, and more.
With heightened immigration enforcement, she says many clients are reliving past trauma and the fear of family separation—especially among children—is real and constant.
“Everyone deserves access to care,” Hernandez said. “Immigrants are not an exception. They have stories to tell, and they deserve to do that in a space that’s safe and nonjudgmental.”
Beyond evaluations, Hernandez helps families develop preparedness plans for sudden detention or deportation, guiding parents on how to have age-appropriate conversations with their children about what to do if a parent doesn’t return home.
“As a mental health provider, I can only do so much alone,” Hernandez said. “Clients also need support with housing, legal aid, or immigration services. That’s why community collaboration is essential.”
She regularly partners with organizations like Binational of Central California, United We Lead Foundation, Community Justice Alliance, and the Consulate of Mexico in Fresno—where she holds monthly workshops on forensic evaluations.
“In our community, trust is everything,” Hernandez said. “When people see I’m connected to these organizations, they feel safer sharing their stories.”
Hernandez also hosts peer support circles for professionals working with immigrant families, offering strategies for trauma-informed care and access to local resources.
Deidi A. Sanchez, executive director of the United We Lead Foundation, said mental health support for immigrant families in the Central Valley starts with one simple principle: meet people where they are—literally and emotionally.
“We’re an educational nonprofit, but over the years, we’ve realized families need much more than just academic support,” said Sanchez. “Mental health has become a major area of need.”
That realization led United We Lead to launch a variety of culturally and linguistically responsive initiatives, including virtual and in-person emotional wellness workshops and an annual mental health conference.
The initial need for the mental health conference arose during the pandemic, said Sanchez, and since then, more than a dozen organizations have contributed by sharing resources or participating in panels.
“These conferences weren’t part of our original mission, but they grew out of necessity,” Sanchez said. “Families are hungry for information and connection, even if the stigma around mental health still exists.”
Bartolon said one of the biggest benefits of attending United We Lead’s mental health workshops was building relationships with people she and her son know and trust.
Now, if they need more support, Bartolon said, they have someone to turn to. Even when the organization can’t help directly, it can connect them with a partner who can.