Fear of deportation is a rising concern among many Latinos in the United States. People born here and people who have given up everything to move to the U.S., have to worry about being forced to leave the country after the Trump Administration rescinded the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and proposed use of "expedited removal." How does this fear impact a person's mental health? Changes Coming Fast and Furious
The Trump Administration is proposing more usage of "expedited removal," as well as reduced family immigration and eliminating the Visa Lottery, The Nation reports. Expedited removal allows government officials to remove undocumented immigrants without allowing them to go before a judge. Since 2002, the law has only been used for immigrants who ...
Latino and other kids with mental health issues may not understand their feelings. Parents and schools may not know how to deal with children who experience trauma or depression. Sadly, this creates an environment where Latinos—already less likely than their white peers to use mental healthcare services—struggle with suicide and other poor health and academic outcomes. Mental Health America is here to help.
How a Suicide Attempt Started It All
Mental Health America formed more than 100 years ago. In the early 1900s, Clifford Beers was suffering from bipolar disorder after the death of his old brother. Beers attempted to take his own life by jumping off of a three story building. Clifford was severely injured and placed in an institution, where he reported being ...
"I hear demons telling me to be bad." "I need my medicine to calm down." "Mom has a new boyfriend, but that’s okay cause dad has a new girlfriend." Fred Cardenas has heard these statements from kids ages 6 and younger who suffer mental health issues. Cardenas, who has spent 30 years in early childhood services in San Antonio (68% Latino), said overwhelmed parents and stressed teachers struggle to deal with these kids. Health workers too often look for a psychiatric diagnosis to medicate. He wanted to help parents, teachers, and health workers look more at the context and relationships experienced by the kids. So Cardenas helped build a program—Early Childhood Well Being (ECWB) at Family Service Association of San Antonio. ECWB intervenes early for kids ages 0-8 ...
New Year’s resolutions are a tradition that many people engage in every year. Some resolve to address physical health – to eat better, to lose some weight, to exercise more – and these are all great. However, one aspect of health often gets completely overlooked during this time of year. Mental health affects millions of people across the country, but more often than not goes unaddressed. Latinos – especially young Latinos – are statistically more likely to have mental health issues than their peers and they are far less likely to seek treatment. Lack of access to resources, cultural stigma, and language barriers are all key reasons why Latino mental health often goes untreated. In an effort to reverse this situation, Kaiser Permanente has launched a website entitled ...
Liz Franklin made an important discovery about mental healthcare for the Latino population in her years as school therapist at Washburn Center for Children in Hennepin County (6.9% Latino), Minn. Speaking Spanish is good—but it's not enough to understand Latinos' thoughts and situations. "You won’t get everything right if you just translate things literally," Franklin told the MinnPost. "You have to understand the deeper meanings, and to do that takes time and a lot of communication." That's why Franklin decided to help. She created a consortium of more than 80 Spanish-speaking therapists, doctors, and other mental healthcare providers to share more about the Latino culture and the issues that this population faces.
Latinos and Mental Health
Latinos are less likely ...
Being Latino in America can be stressful. Being a Latino immigrant can be even more stressful, with daily struggles of discrimination, fear of deportation, and cultural identity that can affect your mental health. A new study led by Luz Garcini, postdoctoral fellow at Rice University, looked into the mental health of undocumented immigrants living near the border in California (38.9% Latino). Garcini, just like her research participants, fled violence from her native country Mexico, to come to the United States. Luz learned though that not all immigrants are fortunate. The work that Garcini has done is the first of its kind to prove the prevalence showing extremely high rates of mental illness among undocumented people versus the U.S population.
Study Findings
Garcini and ...
You probably know obesity is bad for a child's health. But did you know obesity takes a toll on children's minds, too? An overweight or obese child has three times the risk for depression in adulthood as a normal-weight child. Risk rises four times for children who are overweight or obese in both childhood and adulthood, according to a new study, CBS News reports. Sadly, Latinos suffer high rates of both obesity and mental health conditions. That is why knowing the facts—and having the resources available can alter the effects of obesity on mental health—can lead child to a healthy lifestyle.
The Facts on Obesity
Childhood obesity is defined as a diagnosis for any child (same sex and age) "with a Body Mass Index at or above the 95th percentile", according to the Center ...
We all remember filing into a school auditorium as first graders and trying to stay awake during a dull, lackluster presentation. Did we learn something? Maybe. Do we remember it today? Probably not. Well, the Vermont Family Network (VFN) discovered a fun way—puppets!—to engage young children in talking about mental health. The Vermont network formed an educational puppet troupe that brings messages of health and inclusion to more than 10,000 children and adults each year in Vermont (2% Latino) and beyond. The troupe, called the Puppets in Education (PiE) program, is celebrating their 36th year of teaching students through puppetry! The PiE program uses 3-and-a-half-foot puppets to empower kids to talk about important, difficult issues. From the stage in schools, ...
Mental health is a rising concern in the United States. For Latina women, the concerns become even more dire. Research has shown that Latinas receive less mental health care than whites, even if they have insurance. They also report more symptoms of depression and anxiety than whites. However, what if there was a better way to reach them? Latina women have a higher than average use of smartphones and the Internet. Technology could be the answer. A recent study from UCLA found that culturally tailored media programming can encourage Latina women to seek help for mental health, as well as decrease their symptoms of anxiety and depression. The researchers developed a digital storytelling series featuring a fictional young Latina woman named "Catalina" that is dealing with ...
