Transforming mental health services to Hispanic/Latino communities through the implementation of cultural and linguistic competency

Health and mental health disparities are well-documented in ethnic/racial populations. They experience higher incidences of chronic diseases, higher mortality rates, poorer health outcomes, and reports of barriers to quality and evidence based interventions. Individuals with serious mental health conditions die an average of 25 years earlier than the general population. Although many factors contribute to these problems, one significant factor is the lack of ethnic and racial representation in the mental health and health care workforce. In a report of the Surgeon General on Mental Health, evidence showed that “racial and ethnic minorities continue to be badly underrepresented, relative to their proportion of the U.S. population, within the core mental health professions – psychiatry, psychology, social work, counseling, and psychiatric nursing.” Recent studies attribute poor mental health treatment rates to a lack of representation in the mental health provider workforce and suggest that building a representative workforce is a viable strategy that could potentially lead to the elimination of mental health disparities. This presentation will outline specific strategies developed and funded by the Hogg Foundation to address the significant mental health workforce shortage. It will highlight training approaches and content areas for cultural and linguistic competencies in higher education and provider organizations. Policy, program and practice recommendations will also be presented. The session will be moderated by a representative from the USDHHS, Office of Minority Health, who will comment on presentation segments and share Federal level perspectives pertaining to national transformation efforts in mental health workforce development for Hispanic communities.