"Tratamientos Completos Mentales-" The Program Development and Practice Response to an Integrative Mental Health Service for Mexican- Americans

The Hispanic population, mostly of Mexican descent, is the fastest growing minority in the country. These immigrants are mostly rural Mexicans with more traditional values and concepts of health and illness. Based on their rural upbringings, agricultural backgrounds and more traditional based thinking, Mexican migrants in the United States settle along the US-Mexico border as a familiar area for them and as a means to maintain cross-border migration for health care. They are also more likely to continue to use traditional and folk medicine as part of their cultural meanings of illness and in their treatment for any noted physical or mental illnesses. When entering the United States, Mexican-Americans are frequently reluctant, as are other minority populations, to seek mental health services given the historically dismissive stance in US medicine regarding the use of their own culturally meaningful mental health treatments/remedies. Given this, the understanding and utilization of traditional and folk mental health treatments for Mexican-American immigrants is important when working with these groups and for the successful provision of culturally sensitive mental health services. This presentation documents the rationale, marketing and individual/community response to the development of an integrative mental health center on the US-Mexico border that incorporates both traditionally western, complementary and alternative and Mexican traditional mental health service treatments. By incorporating services including psychiatric medication management, Grupos/Platicas para Salud/Bienestar, Tai Chi, Yoga, Therapeutic/Accupressure Massage and Mexican Traditional Medicine/Herbolaria, the overall empowerment in mental health service acceptance, utilization and benefit is enhanced not only in the Mexican-American individuals we serve, but in the US-Mexico border community at large.