Advocacy
In order to address the stigma associated with mental health and receiving help outside of the family, it is crucial to advocate for open communication surrounding the topics. In addition to having conversations with members of the Latinx and Hispanic communities, counselors should be ready to provide supporting resources for the individuals. Advocates can assist on the institutional level as the Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies mandate by connecting clients with supporting institutions that work to change disparities (Ratts, Singh, Nassar-McMillan, Butler, McCullough, 2015). Counselors can be advocates by identifying schools, agencies, and programs that recognize the uniqueness of the Latinx and Hispanic communities and proving information about these resources to supplement the conversations surrounding mental health.
Ratts, M. J., Singh, A. A., Nassar-McMillan, S., Butler, K., & Rafferty McCullough, J. (2015). Multicultural and social justice counseling competencies. Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development Executive Council. Retrieved from Carmen.osu.edu
The image above represents two people. This image was chosen among other images, because the hands are coming from equal levels, instead of one reaching down to pull the other hand up. This shows that servant leadership requires humility and emphasizes the radical equality in the relationship between the servant leader and the individuals the leader is serving (Dollarhide, 2018). By creating a community mentorship program, a servant leader can help foster relationships within the Latinx/Hispanic community. This facilitation of a strength-based relationship is a Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competency that promotes interpersonal interventions for clients (Ratts, Singh, Nassar-McMillan, Butler, McCullough, 2015). The mentorship program can help support interpersonal relationships for the mentee, which can in turn help them foster other relationships with family and members of the community.
Unknown Author. Image of two hands reaching out [PNG] Retrieved From: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/67/Collaboration_logo_V2.svg/1280px-Collaboration_logo_V2.svg.png
Ratts, M. J., Singh, A. A., Nassar-McMillan, S., Butler, K., & Rafferty McCullough, J. (2015). Multicultural and social justice counseling competencies. Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development Executive Council. Retrieved from Carmen.osu.edu
The Hispanic/Latino cultural group, like all populations, have needs that must be met in order to achieve positive life outcomes. Research shows that Hispanics/Latinos often to not have information regarding mental health and health care resources (Jang et al., 2011)), limiting the access to resources. This in combination with the negative beliefs surrounding mental health care, older Hispanic generations are less likely to seek services (Jang et al., 2011). This need for information accurately representing the benefits of mental health resources should be a focus of all communities. Additionally, family is an integral part of the Hispanic/Latino community (Garza & Watts, 2010; Jang et al., 2011) as well as the opportunity to preserve culture (Portes & Rivas, 2011). By viewing these critical factors as strength based needs to incorporate into the social systems of communities, we can help support Hispanics/Latinos. From a counseling perspective we can use a multicultural and social justice approach to help Hispanics/Latinos meet these needs.
References
Garza, Y. & Watts, R. E. (2010). Filial therapy and Hispanic values: Common ground for culturally sensitive helping, Journal of Counseling & Development, 88, 108-113.
Jang, Y., Chiriboga, D. A., Herrera, J. R., Martinez Tyson, D., & Schonfeld, L. (2011). Attitudes toward mental health services in Hispanic older adults: The role of misconceptions and personal beliefs. Community Mental Health Journal, 47, 164-170.
Portes, A. & Rivas, A. (2011). The adaptation of migrant children. The Future of Children, 21(1) 219-246.
The Latinx/Hispanic community experiences systemic barriers that prevent the access of support in the form of mental health, overall health care, community, and educational resources. These obstacles are the result of services that are not inclusive to the Latinx/Hispanic cultural values such as solving issues within the familial context (Garza & Watts, 2010) and beliefs surrounding the perception of medicine and mental health services in older generations (Jang, Chiriboga, Herrera, Martinez, & Schonfeld, 2011). By creating services that are strength-based, culturally responsive, and bilingual (Garza & Watts, 2010; Corona, Gonzlez, Cohen, Edwards, & Edmonds, 2009). Research shows that discrimination is correlated with negative mental health outcomes for Latinx adolescents (Lopez, Lebrón, Graham, & Grogan-Kaylor, 2016), so it is imperative to not only remove the barriers but also to address the overall oppressive climate of our country.
Corona, R., Gonzalez, T., Cohen, R., Edwards, C., & Edmonds, T. (2009). Richmond Latino needs assessment: A community-university partnership to identify health concerns and service needs for Latino youth. Journal Community Health, 34, 195-201.
The purpose of the study was to identify health concerns and needed services for Latino youth living in the Richmond, Virginia area in order to meet the growing presence of the cultural group. The only research the article provided was the increasing number of immigrant-born children projected for 2020 and that Latino adolescents present a greater risk of behavioral and emotional difficulties. The study was a mixed-method study, using survey quantitative data of 212 Latino adults and information obtained from qualitative interviews of 15 community leaders and focus groups composed of 23 Latino parents and 6 latino boys. The questions for the survey and interview were translated to Spanish. Results showed that concerns of the participants about youth included: sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy, drug and/or alcohol use, home and school behavior problems, mental health concerns, and loss of connection to Latin culture. The survey showed that there is a need for bilingual mental health services and programs after-school. This study helps school counselors gain a sense of concerns that Latino families have about their children. School counselors can work with the school to provide information and resources to support the families in these areas. The generalizability of the study is concerning, since research was conducted in one area of Virginia.
Garza, Y. & Watts, R. E. (2010). Filial therapy and Hispanic values: Common ground for culturally sensitive helping, Journal of Counseling & Development, 88, 108-113.
This article investigates filial therapy and the advantages of the intervention for Hispanic families. The literature in this article shows the increasing size of the Hispanic minority group and the need for services for the overrepresentation of poverty, drop outs and young pregnancies. The article references the discrepancy of services available to the group, especially the children, compared to growing need for early intervention with a contextual approach. The authors argue that filial therapy and the core values of the Hispanic culture, such as family, respect, personal relationships, and trust are overlapping. The authors propose filial therapy as a viable intervention to support the Hispanic population to fill in the need for services. According to the article, Hispanic groups receive less information and less access to mental health services due to low socioeconomic status and pressures of relying on the family instead of outside sources for help. Filial therapy allows the parents to take a front seat approach in therapy to help their children. This position paper helps highlight the core values that impede Hispanic populations from seeking help, but if recognized can be incorporated into culturally responsive therapy. As the authors stated, there is a lack of research evaluating the true effectiveness of filial therapy with Hispanic groups.
Jang, Y., Chiriboga, D. A., Herrera, J. R., Martinez Tyson, D., & Schonfeld, L. (2011). Attitudes toward mental health services in Hispanic older adults: The role of misconceptions and personal beliefs. Community Mental Health Journal, 47, 164-170.
The purpose of the study was to investigate characteristics of older Hispanic adults that would be predictive of attitude toward mental health services. By understanding cultural barriers to mental health services, professionals can help create programs for Hispanic older adults. The literature in the introduction highlighted the importance of receiving mental health services by referencing the negative outcomes for those who have untreated mental health problems, such as lesser life quality. The authors point out the lack of research done on the impact of attitudes and beliefs of racial/ethnic minorities as a barrier to receiving mental health services. The authors support the need for this research by referencing misconceptions and beliefs about mental health, such as depression is a product of aging and that mental health issues of an individual reflect poorly on the entire family. The sample included 297 Hispanic adults 60 years old and older in public housing, who were given items from assessments that evaluated their view of their health and a depression scale. Participants were also interviewed about misconceptions and personal beliefs regarding depression as well assessed attitude toward mental health using a scale. The results showed a contradiction, the present study found positive attitudes toward mental health services, but the Hispanic population historically underutilized services. The authors believe this was due to younger groups of elders are more informed of mental health services, and therefore more positive. Results also found that over half of the sample believed that depression was typical of aging and more than a third saw it as individual weakness. The results showed that over 60% of the sample had apprehensive feelings about medicine and that about a fifth thought services would bring negativity. The recommendation made by the authors after reporting the results was to better inform Hispanic communities of what services look like, promote strength-based interventions, and to involve the family in the process. This study is meaningful to my work as a school counselor in-training working with Hispanic students. I will be better prepared to have conversations about counseling to the caregivers of the student, who may hold these misconceptions or beliefs. I thought the study was well constructed, but lacked generalizability as pointed out in the article. The population was in a specific area and only studied people using public housing.
Lopez, W. D., LeBrón, A. M. W., Graham, L. F., & Grogan-Kaylor, A. (2016). Discrimination and depressive symptoms among Latina/o adolescents of immigrant parents. International Quarterly of Community Health Education, 36(2), 131-140.
The purpose of the study was to investigate the association between discrimination, the source of the discrimination, racial/ethnic background of the source of discrimination, and the school ethnic context with depressive symptoms for Latino/a adolescents. The literature cited in the article highlights the association between discrimination from various sources and negative mental health outcomes for Latino/a adolescents. Research also shows that discrimination from other Latino/as can have a detrimental effect on the mental well-being of other Latino/a adolescents. The study used data from the 1992 and 1995 interviews of a longitudinal study previously conducted, and the sample included 3,022 Latina/o students from 1992 and 2,391 from 1995. Analyses were ran using the questions collected in the longitudinal study regarding discrimination as well as scales used to assess depressive symptoms at the time. The three core findings were: experiencing discrimination was associated with higher depressive symptoms, teachers and students as sources of discrimination were associated with higher depressive symptoms, and co-ethnic discrimination had the strongest positive association. When reviewing the school climate or community composition, it is important to be aware of discrimination occurring, as it has stated implications on the mental health of Latina/o students. The study used old data rather than collecting current information. The authors argued the benefits of using the well collected data outweighed the negative aspects, yet they were unable to address their question regarding the racial/ethnic background of the source of discrimination that they sought to answer.
Riffe, H. A., Turner, S., & Rojas-Guyler, L. (2008). The diverse faces of Latinos in the Midwest: Planning for service delivery and building community. Health and Social Work, 33(2) 101-110.
The purpose of the study was to collect demographic and sociodemographic information about Hispanic adults to assist communities when designing programs and services to best serve the ethnic group. The literature showed the importance of demographic and sociodemographic data by relating correlations between age, country of origin, and acculturation to concepts such as socioeconomic status, physical health, mental health, and quality of life. The sample included 535 Hispanic adults attending an annual Hispanic festival in a Midwestern city. The survey interviews were face to face and inquired about age, marital status, country of origin, level of acculturation, income and additional health questions. Results showed acculturated levels were low or very low and that the majority of the responders were young men who were relatively new to the area. There was a wide range of countries of origin, and there was also a range of years of education earned. Almost half of the participants reported earning less than $20,000 a year. Collecting such data is crucial when developing a program, whether in the community or in the school, as a type of needs assessment. There is research supporting trends related to this data and various health and psychological outcomes. In order to best serve communities, programs need to see composition of the population. The direct results of the study could be helpful for community organization to base their program on, but the value of the article was showing how to collect the data in each specific area.