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Latino Mental
Health Training Program to begin
(July
2006 Issue)
By Catherine Robertson Souter
The numbers tell the story. Nearly 13% of the U.S. population identify
themselves as Latino in a recent U.S. census. Of those, two-thirds
speak only Spanish at home and just less than half rank themselves
as speaking English "less than very well."
But, only 1% of U.S. psychologists are trained to work with Latino
clients, according to Amaro Laria, Ph.D., director of the medical
consultation training program at the Massachusetts School of Professional
Psychology (MSPP) in Boston, Mass.
"There currently is an urgent demand for services for the Latino
population," Laria says. "There is a huge discrepancy [between the
size of the Latino population and the percent of psychologists trained
to work with them.] Plus, Latinos have a 50 percent drop-out rate
after a first session of therapy and, although it's a complex issue,
the main reason is the lack of a cultural fit."
That such a large segment of the population is severely underserved
when it comes to psychological care is a problem that will only
increase with time. The number of Latinos in the U.S. is projected
to swell to 20% by the end of the decade and to 25% by the middle
of the century, Laria adds. Without professionals trained to deal
with the cultural and language differences, an increasingly larger
segment of the population will not receive the type of care it deserves.
To address this need for trained psychologists to serve the growing
Latino population, MSPP recently announced the introduction of a
new Latino Mental Health Training Program to begin in September.
Incoming students will follow the standard program of study with
some changes or rather, additions, to the course work.
"This program is designed as a specialty, not a track. The students
who come in will follow the regular Psy.D. program," says Laria,
who is also the new program's director.
Although other programs exist to train psychologists to work with
the Latino population, MSPP'S Latino Mental Health Training program
is reportedly the first to emphasize Spanish language training.
The school expects students to achieve a fluency that will directly
translate to a clinical setting. In addition to their standard courses,
the LMHT students will be required to spend two summers in Latin
American countries and work at clinical sites that serve Latinos
in the U.S. during the academic years. Throughout their time at
the school, students will participate in Spanish language support
groups where they will meet with other students and practice their
language skills.
"They will also take a two-credit course the summer before their
immersion experience on Latino mental health and one of their required
courses, clinical seminar in year three, will be taught in Spanish,"
Laria says.
The LMHT students will also have an option for an elective course
in their fourth year with a range of topics specifically addressing
Latino mental health.
The classes and language support groups will be open to all students
at MSPP including those not in the LMHT program. The Latin American
immersion experience will be limited to those in the program.
The program has a three-part goal. Not only do organizers wish
to train new psychologists to work with Latinos, but MSPP also hopes
to encourage more Latino students to enter the program.
"With Latino students, we don't have enough graduating from college
and for the ones who do," says Laria, "psychology is not a popular
field."
The third goal is to provide training for psychologists who have
moved to the U.S. from Spanish-speaking countries, especially those
where the highest level of education for psychology is below the
doctoral level.
"We are looking at psychologists from Latin America who have completed
their training in Latin America but who are here now," Laria says.
"For them, the terminal degree is at the master's level; they can't
get equivalency for a doctoral. We are hoping to provide a program
to facilitate the process of getting a Psy.D. here."
For the first year, the program has admitted half a dozen students
to date and administrators are looking at more than two dozen who
have expressed interest. At this point, there has been no need to
limit the number of students they can accept, although that could
easily change as the program gains more recognition.
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