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Whether it’s depression, anxiety, behavioral or personality, mental health issues in the Latino community can manifest in many different forms, states an article in the Latino Post. However, when it comes to access, assessment and treatment, they often face one hurdle after another.
In a report by the UC Davis Center in California, a significant percentage of Latinos enter the US as migrant workers. Then, once they’ve been here for a while, and usually after years of hard labor, a significant number bring their families to settle permanently. The transition, however, from their country combined with the immigration process is often fraught with difficulties. As such, most take on a great deal of stress and anxiety in order to do it. Some of the issues they encounter include discrimination, stigma, trauma, abuse and poor housing. When left unresolved, it sometimes lead to mental health problems.
The issue of not getting treatment is even higher among Mexican immigrants, according to an article by the Center for Health Journalism. Mexican youth are especially vulnerable to the challenges associated with immigrating to the US as well, states the Center. The article says that about three out of four youth and adults with a serious mental health issue will not get treatment for it. The reason is often due to stigma and fear of the government, it adds.
The Latino Post states that there is a gaping hole regarding mental health services and adolescents, particularly for African Americans and Latinos. The issue is that they often get categorized into the juvenile justice system instead of the mental health system, and that’s a huge problem. The article also states that judges in the court system who recognize what’s going on say that it’s a way of criminalizing mental disorders. As a result, there’s something very wrong with this picture, they say.
Finding educational programs that support ELL students’ first language, such as The Latino Family Literacy Project, can make an enormous difference on their overall academic and language acquisition success.