Host Laura Reagan, LCSW-C was honored to speak with Linda Thai, LMSW on this episode of Therapy Chat. Linda joined Laura to do a multi-episode series with Laura focusing on the grief she is currently experiencing following a death in the family. Linda shared words of wisdom about grief and developmental trauma as well as intergenerational/ ancestral trauma, touching on the immigrant experience and family dynamics.
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Says Yin J. Li of Asians Do Therapy:
In this conversation, I speak with Linda Thai (she/hers). Linda is a Vietnamese Australian trauma and somatic therapist currently living in Alaska. I was very intrigued by Linda's work. She is writing and researching about the intersections of trauma, healing and adult children of refugees, specifically Vietnamese refugees.
I hope this conversation moves you. And, that it provides you with some understanding and compassion of your experience, of the experience of Vietnamese folks, and of those who have sought and continue to seek refuge.
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America! The land of opportunity! And also, for so many Mash-Ups, the ambiguous loss of immigration and uprooting a life and a history comes with a complex web of emotions. Today we’re talking to trauma therapist and educator, Linda Thai, about ancestral grief, and how unmetabolized grief, particularly in Mash-Up families, is passed down through generations. We dive into how important understanding historical context is for grief and healing. There are many Mash-Up revelations in this episode!!!! We’re asking: what happens to a family structure if we don’t grieve?
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Linda discusses her journey to becoming a therapist with host of the Trauma Therapist podcast, Guy Macpherson.
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Our Bodies Hold Our Stories
Linda and Karen talk about how the body (and the nervous system) holds implicit or subconscious memories that we may not be aware of. And that by working with and through the body, we can access a deeper truth, that isn't possible when we go through cognitive (intellectual) awareness.
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“At some point along the line you had an ancestor who lived through the unthinkable,” Linda Thai said, explaining how her own family’s experiences affected her childhood and young adult years. “And it made an impact in some way upon how they parented their kids. Or didn’t parent their kids. Trauma that has happened in previous generations that has been unresolved, and therefore impacts the way that generation raises the next generation.”
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The issue of immigration is again a dominant concern in the United States. Over the decades, the Irish, Eastern Europeans and Chinese were met with hostility and, at times violence, when they sought opportunity or asylum on our shores.
Linda Thai was part of the Vietnamese exodus in the 1970s. She was only two years old when she and her parents boarded an overcrowded boat in the middle of the night to escape persecution and possible death. As you’ll hear, they found a new home in Australia, but the trauma of events still shapes their lives.
Says Linda: I look back on this interview with such nostalgia. This was the first time I told my story for a radio audience. The feedback that I got from my local community impelled me to continue to share my story. Peace is the best pillow to sleep on at night, and not all of us have that luxury.
FAIRBANKS — Linda Thai was 2 when her family escaped Vietnam as Boat People in 1979. “My father was on the run from the communists,” she said. “He worked at his aunt’s gas station, so that made his aunt...
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