EP# 137 - Empowering Youth and Families: Vanessa Ruiz on Advocacy and Connection at Golisano Children's Hospital

Discover the profound impact that quality family engagement and proactive mental health advocacy can have on our youth, as Vanessa Ruiz from Lee Health and Golisano Children's Hospital illuminates the essential work of their child advocacy department. Vanessa, a tenacious licensed clinical social worker, peels back the layers of her role, which spans injury prevention, mental health support, and community education. Through our candid conversation, she brings the Kids Minds Matter program to life, championing the cause for open dialogue about mental health and dismantling the barriers of stigma and shame. Her insights give voice to the silent struggles of many and serve as a beacon for parents navigating the choppy waters of raising children amidst today’s societal challenges.

As summer rolls in, the value of interaction with our teens takes center stage. We explore the surprising joys of shared routine activities, from tending the garden to picking out produce, revealing how these moments can forge stronger connections and open up heartfelt communication. Vanessa's advice resonates deeply, reminding us that these everyday experiences are not merely tasks to be ticked off but golden opportunities to reinforce the bonds of family unity. We close our heartfelt discussion with a nod to the community's unsung heroes and extend an invitation to honor local businesses that truly make a difference in the lives of families and children.

Gosilano Children's Hospital
Kids Minds Matter
Vanessa Ruiz
9800 South HealthPark Drive
Suite 405
Fort Myers, Florida 33908
(954) 328-8771
vanessa.ruiz@leehealth.org
WEBSITE

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Cabo Jim.

Speaker 2: 0:08

Schaller. Welcome Good Neighbors to episode number 137 of the Good Neighbor Podcast, estero. Today we have Good Neighbor Vanessa Ruiz from Lee Health and Golisano Children's Hospital. Welcome.

Speaker 3: 0:22

Hi, thank you for having me.

Speaker 2: 0:26

Children's Hospital. Welcome, Hi. Thank you for having me Absolutely excited to learn a little bit about what you do over with the hospital and everything. So why don't we just jump right in? Why don't you start off by sharing a little bit about what you do?

Speaker 3: 0:36

So I'm part of the child advocacy department with Lee Health Center Children's Hospital. Out of that department, we have different factors. We have prevention injury you probably know about our child life specialists but we also have our mental health navigation team, along with our public education team. We've actually started that sub-department within child advocacy since 2020.

Speaker 2: 1:01

Very nice, very nice. So how did you get involved in all this?

Speaker 3: 1:05

Very nice, very nice. So how did you get involved in all this? So I am actually a licensed clinical social worker by trade and once we started getting a call about the opportunities within child advocacy and how I explaining all the great things that they had this program in mind for.

Speaker 2: 1:39

Once I found out Kids Minds Matter was funding this program, I just knew it was right away a match made in heaven, absolutely yeah, great, great program.

Speaker 3: 1:58

So we've all had some type of I want to say challenge, obstacle along our journey. Is there something that happened along your way that we can kind of relate back to and look back and say you know what no pun intended but navigate through mental health challenges that their children are facing? I think we come up with this conception that we're all educated and in the work field, how can we not know what's available to our kids?

Speaker 3: 2:20

It really doesn't matter what socioeconomic class we are or what our you know ethnic or cultural backgrounds we are. It becomes so overwhelming when we hear our kids are struggling with something, and becoming subjective to that when it's your child is the most hardest thing I think a parent has to deal with. So I definitely would say that what I've seen parents come kind of come into the program and overcome is the understanding that they're not alone and there's no judgment Absolutely not. It doesn't matter that you have a great career or that you're doing well in life. If you're lost, you're lost and it's okay for us to ask for help. We're all in this together.

Speaker 2: 3:02

And that's important to have that support group around you. Now, are there any? Maybe you know along the same lines, so maybe, going a little deeper, are there any myths or misconceptions based around what you guys do?

Speaker 3: 3:14

Yes, I think it's. You know, a lot of the times I explain our program and some people think it's case management, like the government you know into your home. It's nothing like that. Our program, which is referred by the school district, so there is a little bit of kind of some red tape in order to get in. But once you're referred to us and we do have families that participate, we go to the family's level of wanting to work on things. So wherever they want to start, that's where we start. Wherever they want to end, that's where we end. It's very much not an obligation. You're not mandated to participate with us. This is just more of we see that you could use some assistance. Let us help guide you and see if we can move you along and help you as best as possible.

Speaker 2: 4:08

Absolutely. Now you've been in the industry for a little while. Are you seeing any trends or changes over time?

Speaker 3: 4:17

Yes, there's a lot of, you know, I think what I'm seeing a lot of is behaviors in the classroom, you know. I think let's be fair our teachers have it hard. It is a tough, you know, time. I think we have to keep that in mind. So changes when, in regards to behaviors with our children, really is a whole village approach, it's not just only what we're doing at school but it's what we're doing at home, to kind of carry that over. And I think once we are able to get on that same page, children tend to do better and thrive, because we are seeing those behaviors kind of get to the point where, you know, families can't bring their kids to school all the time, or the children, you know teachers are calling parents to come pick up their child, and that gets very taxing and hard to kind of navigate through. So it's very important for us to get on the same page and say, okay, what are you doing at school so I can do it at home, and vice versa.

Speaker 2: 5:17

Absolutely yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's it's getting tougher nowadays, it's it's not like when we were growing up.

Speaker 3: 5:23

No, not at all.

Speaker 2: 5:25

So so are you from? On a personal note, are you from Southwest Florida? I'm not.

Speaker 3: 5:31

I'm not Southwest Florida found me.

Speaker 2: 5:34

Gotta love that right.

Speaker 3: 5:36

Right, so I'm originally a New Yorker. Then I moved to the East Coast and lived in the East Coast for pretty much all my high school years into my adult years, and then I went to Miami to finish graduate school. So I came over because I had family actually buy land here. I think all of us have a family member that moves here first and they were like you got to check it out, I'm like okay, and it's an up and growing city and I was offered an opportunity.

Speaker 3: 6:07

How you know, I always say when an opportunity sounds great, how can I not do it, how can I not say, say no.

Speaker 2: 6:15

Yes, I mean we love. We love the area it's. It's a great area and it's growing, like you said. You know it's so beautiful down here. I know you don't have a lot of free time, but what things do you enjoy doing outside of work?

Speaker 3: 6:29

Outside of work. Well, you know southwest Florida, it's boating. I don't think we can do anything other than enjoy the beautiful water. So definitely, we are a boating family. We just get out in the water and enjoy it all around.

Speaker 2: 6:44

That's why we live here right To be able to get outside and enjoy things like that. So is there one thing maybe you wish our listeners knew about what you do, that maybe they're not aware of so.

Speaker 3: 6:55

Also, what we do is part of our program is to provide community education and outreach and we have an amazing event coming up on June 8th at FSW U Building in Fort Myers and it is going to include all mental health vendors. The school district and their mental health team will be there. We will have different providers from the area, as well as Collier's NAMI that will be there to kind of show and demonstrate different therapeutic techniques and coping skills that teenagers can use. The event is for sixth graders to 12th graders, so if you have a teenager in a home, please register. You can go to kidsmindsmatterscom slash NIO normal is overrated to register online. It's a free event and lunch is provided, so I hope that motivates some of our families.

Speaker 3: 7:55

It's a good event to participate, not just for, I think, for our youth, but for the parents to hear. We will have some youth speakers to kind of tell us about their journey with their mental health challenges and what are they doing that's actually working for them. Nowadays, I think it's easy for us to talk about our problems, but for teenagers to tell us but this is what worked for me and this is what I needed. I think that's so empowering. So we're going to have some speakers on that and we will also have a art therapist doing a beautiful heart to art demonstration that the audience will participate in.

Speaker 2: 8:33

I love it. I love it. So how would our listeners go about getting a hold of you if they had questions, concerns or wanted to help?

Speaker 3: 8:40

Absolutely. You can always email me at vanessaruiz R-U-I-Z at leehealth. org I'm sorry about that and you can always look up information and resources on our Kids' Minds Matter website. So please feel free to go online and you'll see that there's different opportunities that we have either events or classes and you can also email us through there.

Speaker 2: 9:07

Perfect, Vanessa. Any last words for our listeners that you'd like to share with them?

Speaker 3: 9:11

You know, now that we're going into summer, just make sure we find time to spend with our kids. I think it's hard for adolescents to share that they want to be around mom and dad, but what I'm finding more is that that's exactly what they want. They want you to nag them to spend time with them.

Speaker 3: 9:29

They want you to tell them hey, come outside and help me. You know, help me with this. Or come to the grocery store with me. Those little moments that we can do, even those mundane activities that we have to do for household chores. Doing that with your teenager is very engaging and could really help you open that line of communication.

Speaker 2: 9:49

And then that's the important part of it is, you know, it brings the family together and everything Absolutely Well. Vanessa, it's been. Thank you for being such a good neighbor. It's been a pleasure getting to know you, thank you. And I hope to see you out in the community here soon.

Speaker 3: 10:04

Sounds great. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1: 10:07

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast, estero. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNPEstero. com. That's GNPEstero. com, or call 239-296-2621.