In recent months, a top policy priority for CAADAC has been the involvement of Latinos in our profession. In April, while visiting with legislators in Washington, D.C., Joe Aragon hammered home a staggering reality:
While close to 40% of those in treatment in California are of Latino decent, only 2% of the counselors can say the same. This disconnect is a serious barrier to treatment for a large amount of the population in California.
For these reasons, CAADAC has joined the Alliance for Latino Behavioral Health Workforce Development. Led by Henry Acosta and the National Resource Center for Hispanic Mental Health, other groups involved in the effort include Mental Health America, the Latino Behavioral Health Institute, the National Hispanic Nurses Association, and the National Latino Psychological Association. As of now, CAADAC /CFAAP is the only group involved in the effort dedicated to the advancement of substance abuse professionals. Yet we are not the only group involved in the effort that is based in California: Mental Health America-Los Angeles is a member of the Alliance, and we hope to work closely with them in the future.
On June 16, the Alliance hosted a Congressional breakfast, which I had the honor to attend. Here, the Alliance presented its history and goals. The Na- tional Resource Center began their efforts to build the Alliance about a year ago, when they joined with the US Office of Minority Health in a round-table dis- cussion in San Francisco, called “Movilizandanos por Nuestro Futuro: Strategic Development of a Mental Health Workforce for Latinos.” This conference produced five consensus statements, which are: The Latino population in the U.S. is facing a public health crisis due to poor or unmet behavioral health needs; The lack of a bilingual and bicul- tural behavioral health workforce plays a significant role in behavioral health disparities; Meaningful access to behavioral healthcare for Latinos is a social justice issue; Latinos deserve a multidisciplinary, multicultural behavioral health workforce; and the time for action is now.
The National Resource Center for Hispanic Mental Health, which leads the Alliance, is a nonprofit organization based in New Jersey. It developed as an outgrowth of the New Jersey Mental Health Institute’s program “Changing Minds: Advancing Mental Health for His- panics.” Its goal is to promote quality behavioral health services through policy development, training, technical assis- tance, research, and anti-stigma and anti-discrimination campaigns.
It is the goal of the Alliance to lead an effort to implement consensus recommendations, as well as to create a process for developing and monitoring an action oriented advocacy plan. It wishes to engage stakeholders from across the country. Our allies in Congress are two legislators from California, Rep. Grace Nepolitano, and Rep. Lucille Roybal- Allard. Joe Aragon, Warren Daniels, and myself met with representatives from their offices in the spring. We will continue our dialogue with these offices, as they are also very dedicated to the goals and success of the Alliance.
Our work on policies that will benefit Latinos and increase their numbers in the workforce does not end with the Alliance. Rhonda Messamore and I have had conversations with other interest groups, and we soon hope to develop a plan that will enable us to reach Latinos across California, to educate them as to their behavioral health treatment options, while also show-casing the benefits of a career in sub- stance abuse counseling. Joe Aragon and I have been working with the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, in hopes of increasing the number of univer- sities in California that offer a curriculum in counseling.
In short, it looks like I’ll finally be putting to use all of the Spanish I studied in high school- con mucho gusto!
Regards,
Andrew
