Tenth International Conference on Health, Wellness & Society

Abstract

Latinx communities in the USA face a unique number of stressors such as acculturative stress, immigration status, and language barriers that negatively affects their mental health. Unfortunately, Latinxs also experience a combination of barriers to accessing mental health services. Among these are lack of health insurance, unfamiliarity with the healthcare system, lack of culturally competent providers, and stigma. The need to find bridges that can connect the Latinx community with much needed services and resources has led to the creation of a partnership between graduate psychology program and a hospital community health program for a) offering mental health trainings for community health workers (CHWs) and b) delivering community conversations (charlas) about mental health. The goals of the trainings are to increase the knowledge, comfort and skills of community health workers to address Latinx community emotional needs and to empower them to educate their communities to ultimately reduce the stigma associated with mental health. The charlas’ aims are to start conversations about mental health, to reduce stigma and to connect community members with local mental health resources. A mixed method with thirty-six CHW and 300 (77% women, ages fourteen–seventy-two) community members is being used to evaluate the program. Results demonstrate an increase in mental health service utilization within the local Latinx community and validate that CHW/University partnerships can be a conduit to support the emotional wellbeing of Latinxs, increasing trust, equity and access to local mental health services and overall healthcare. Implications for best practices in supporting Latinxs are discussed.