[NYAPRS Enews] Culturally appropriate mental health services are needed

[Chacku Mathai]

Culturally appropriate mental health services are needed

 

 

Hilda Rosario-Escher, President and CEO of the Ibero-American Action
League in Rochester, NY writes about the lack of access to culturally
and linguistically competent mental health services that continues to
afflict the Hispanic population, particularly in upstate New York. Hilda
is seeking partners and supporters in her efforts to address this
pervasive issue.  If interested in working with Hilda on this, please
contact her at Hilda.Escher at iaal.org <mailto:Hilda.Escher at iaal.org> . 

 

Democrat and Chronicle: Web Essay: Culturally appropriate mental health
services needed 

Dec 27, 2012   

Written by

HILDA ROSARIO-ESCHER

Guest Essayist

I commend Gov. Andrew Cuomo for his firm stand on gun control as an
effort to reduce violence in our country. In addition to gun control, we
must also look at the untreated mental health problems that many
communities of color face.

Research has documented that minorities in our country receive lower
levels of mental health care. Those of us who work with these
populations know they have tremendous difficulty accessing useful mental
health services. There are a wide range of barriers to seeking mental
health care that have been identified in the Latino mental health
literature.

These barriers can be organized into provider barriers, barriers in the
service system, community-level barriers, barriers in the social
networks of people in the community, and person-centered barriers. The
most important system level barriers include lack of health insurance,
language barriers, discrimination from the system and lack of
information about services (especially in Spanish). Community centered
barriers include the stigma of mental illness. Person- centered barriers
include lack of recognition of mental health problems and stigma of
mental illness.

Stress from unemployment, poverty, evictions and home foreclosures hits
communities of color very hard. Stress from constantly figuring out how
to survive can wear down a person, and makes minority communities prone
to develop mental health disorders.

Latinos have been identified as a high-risk group for depression,
anxiety, and substance abuse. Studies have shown the prevalence of
depression as high as 46 percent for Latino women and 19.6 percent for
Latino men. In a major national study, Puerto Ricans compared to Cuban
and Mexican-Americans had much higher rates of both symptoms of
depression and a greater prevalence of major depressive episodes;
especially for Puerto Ricans living in the mainland U.S. versus those
living in Puerto Rico.

When our children exhibit behavioral problems, often parents don't know
what to do, where to go, or how to navigate the health system. We've
learned that people are really invested in having a better understanding
of their lives and mental health, if it can be communicated to them in a
way that they can understand and trust. For example, studies suggest
that once barriers of language and culture are removed (and to some
extent insurance status), Puerto Ricans (and other Latino groups) seem
to use similar amounts of mental health services as European Americans
in the United States.

People experiencing mental health disorders usually get referred
thorough their primary care physician, but often minorities do not have
a primary care physician or their symptoms are not recognized. Minority
serving agencies rarely have the financial resources to provide mental
health outreach, education and services to fill this community gap in
mental health services.

Between 2009-11, states cumulatively cut more than $1.8 billion from
their budgets for mental health services, according to a 2011 report by
the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Continued funding cuts to
mental health services will mean that an ever-increasing number of
disturbed individuals will be forced to cope on their own, and in their
own way, and won't receive the help they need and deserve.

As a society, we must put resources toward developing culturally
appropriate mental health services, not just for ethnic or racial
groups; but also, for all groups that hold more traditional cultural
values and are less likely to follow mainstream care. Only then, will we
see a decrease in the violence and victimization that we experience in
all our communities.

Our state and federal governments must allocate mental health prevention
and intervention resources for programs that work for all segments of
our population. A mental health system weakened by shortsighted or
misguided budget priorities is bound to make it even harder.
Ibero-American Action League is eager to be a community partner with
others interested in getting these educational and treatment services to
people of color.

 

Hilda Rosario-Escher is President and CEO of the Ibero-American Action
League.

 

 

 

 

 

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