This Mental Health Conference Is Teaching Professionals How to Better Serve the Hispanic Community
It will be held in Texas this Friday at Dallas College Mountain View campus.
In Texas, where about 40% of the population is Hispanic, only ~16% of 7,000+ mental health providers identified as Latino or Hispanic in a recent survey. Nationwide, there are roughly 5,000 Hispanic psychologists, accounting for only 5% of the country’s psychologists, according to census data published by the American Psychological Association. However, 19% of the country’s population is Hispanic.
The Hispanic Mental Health Conference is being organized by Canneta Foundation, an Addisson-based nonprofit dedicated to providing access to mental health care by removing financial barriers and stigmas for the Hispanic community in North Texas. The foundation’s two pillars are “Project Ayuda” and “Project Adelante.” “Project Ayuda” focuses on providing clients with affordable services, and “Project Adelante” elevates bilingual clinicians in the community.
“No matter what your ethnicity as a therapist is, you’re going to see Hispanic clients. That’s just the reality because of our state,” said Hilda McClure, board member at Canneta Foundation and licensed professional counselor. “So it’s important to serve all well when we commit to this field, whether therapist or social worker. Not just the people that look like us.”
Local mental health providers like Therapy Works, Papalotl Therapy and the National Alliance on Mental Illness of North Texas will provide workshops. Topics will include marriage and intimacy for first-generation Americans, intergenerational and transgenerational trauma in the Hispanic community, best practices for social worker’s wages, and more.
“We wanted to have panels and discussions that would touch on a lot of different counseling theories or modalities, but all centered around how it serves the Hispanic community,” said McClure, born and raised in Puerto Rico.
The session will be in English and Spanish with a focus on best practices for mental health care professionals and how the public can learn more about mental health treatments, understand stigmas, learn that attending therapy is normal.
“We wanted to do this event on the same day that the U.S. celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month to bring awareness of mental health care needs and to celebrate our heritage,” said McClure.
Tickets can be purchased at the Canneta Foundation website.
