Let's Talk About It: A Social Work Podcast

Episode 10 traces what it means to close a season honestly. The finale turns the lens on the project itself, bringing the Black Veteran Advisory Panel to the center to share what they affirmed, what they challenged, and where they called for the work to go further. Listeners hear how co-designing with Black veterans shaped every episode of the season, from word choices in individual sentences to t...

Episode 2 traces how the past lives inside the present-day VA. The conversation walks through slavery, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, GI Bill exclusions, redlining, and infamous medical abuses like Tuskegee to show how racism has been baked into U.S. systems for generations. Listeners get a clear, accessible definition of structural racism and how it shapes where people live, the care they receive, and...

This opening episode sets the stage: what exactly isn’t working for Black veterans in the VA health and benefits system, and how do we know it’s not “just in someone’s head”? The host grounds the conversation in their positionality (whiteness, veteran status, and professional role) and names the commitment to center Black veterans’ lived expertise alongside research and policy reports. Listeners a...

Bringing together the entire season, Episode 9 offers a systems-level blueprint for “building the fix” rather than simply naming what’s broken. Co-design is framed as the default, not a special project. Black veterans shift from being subjects of research or policy to co-authors of how care, claims, and data stewardship are structured. The episode walks through what this looks like in practice: co...

Episode 8 asks a deceptively simple question: who controls the data that define Black veterans’ realities, and who gets locked out? The discussion unpacks how restricted access to VA data makes it hard (or impossible) for independent researchers, Black scholars, and community partners to replicate findings or challenge blind spots, and how incomplete race and ethnicity data can hide real dispariti...

Here, the focus shifts to who works inside the VA and what it feels like to receive care there. The episode looks at gaps in representation across the VA workforce and leadership, and why having more Black clinicians and leaders isn’t symbolic, t’s an equity intervention tied to survival and trust. Listeners hear how organizational climate (respect, belonging, safety) shows up directly in patient...

Episode 6 makes the case that you cannot fix inequity for Black veterans if you only look at one identity at a time. Building on intersectionality, the episode shows how race, gender, class, disability, sexual orientation, and other identities overlap to produce compounded risk, especially for those who already face higher denial rates, poorer outcomes, or greater exposure to trauma. Listeners are...

Focusing directly on Black women veterans, this episode looks at what happens when racism and sexism collide in VA and community care. It explores key risks—like military sexual trauma, intimate partner violence, reproductive coercion, and maternal health inequities—and shows how policy instability around reproductive health can further erode trust. The episode offers a clear picture of what high-...

Episode 4 moves from clinic rooms to claims offices and rating decisions. It unpacks evidence that Black veterans are less likely to be granted VA disability benefits for the same diagnoses as White veterans, including PTSD and military sexual trauma–related PTSD. Listeners are guided through how inequity can creep in at every step: documentation, Compensation & Pension (C&P) exams, how “c...

This episode drops into the exam room and clinic to explore what happens when Black veterans describe pain, trauma, or chronic illness—and aren’t believed. Drawing on studies of pain management, PTSD care, and chronic disease outcomes, the episode shows how disrespect, bias, and dismissive communication lead to under-treatment, disengagement, and worse health over time. Listeners hear how “climate...