Mental Health Counseling for Latin Americans - Essay Example

"Mental Health Counseling for Latin Americans" is an exceptional example of a paper on social and family issues.
This paper seeks to explore mental health within the Latin American population and identify reasons why mental health counseling is imperative. Mental health is a prevalent issue in this community for several reasons but, more specifically, because of the life challenges they face and the past trauma. The majority of them live in poor conditions and do not have access to necessities, such as food and medical care. As a result, they end up and getting depressed and disappointed in their lives. The people have been victims of discrimination for a long time.

Consequently, they are unable to seek mental health counseling and other services because of s associated stigma. Mental health counseling is, therefore, critical in this community. The paper identifies three aspects that should be considered when handling mental health within this p [ululation. First, it is essential to understand that they have various cultural differences because they are people of different origins. Thus, any counseling offered should take care of such differences—secondly, the counseling approach should incorporate all barriers and such as language to be effective. Lastly, the religious and spiritual aspects are likely to help people dealing with mental health recovery and lead meaningful lives.

Mental Health Counseling for Latin Americans

Thesis Statement

This paper seeks to examine why mental health is a significant issue for Latin Americans and why counseling is essential.

Introduction

Any person can be a victim of mental health challenges. However, some factors make mental health-related issues more distinct. Minority communities like the Latin Americans are more vulnerable to mental health problems than Native Americans ("Poor mental health, an obstacle to development in Latin America," 2020). Latino Americans are approximately 18.3% of the total US population. Among these, more than 16 have been reported to have mental health problems. According to Mental Health America (MHA), mental health problems among Latinos in America are increasing for people aged between 12 and 49 years. Severe depressive episodes, suicidal thoughts, and attempts have sharply been reported to have increased significantly by the end of 2018. Also, smoking and the use of illegal drugs are common among Latino people who have a mental illness.

Cultural Awareness

1. Latin Americans' culture and identity are sophisticated because it is a community made of people from different countries. These people have been part of the American culture for the longest time, and their population continues to grow.
2. Latin Americans have known challenges for a long time. Lack of adequate mental and general healthcare and trauma are some aspects that should be addressed in the intervention measures.
3. In the mental health context, it is critical to understand the cultural differences and self-identify members of this community. For instance, some identify Latinx and consider themselves to have Latin American ancestors, while some Hispanics associate with Spanish ancestors.
4. Counseling Approach
5. The counseling approach should take care of language barriers because they make communication hard. It is challenging to offer mental health services when the provider and the patients.
6. There is too much stigma about mental health for Latin Americans, and this makes most of them not look for treatment.
7. Lack of information increases the rate of mental health stigma (Mascayano et al., 2016). Thus, the counseling approach should first focus on providing information about mental health before giving solutions.
8. Religious and Spiritual Application
9. Religion and spirituality can lay a critical role in protecting and providing treatment to mental health patients amongst Latin Americans by campaigning against discrimination (Caplan, 2019).
10. Spiritual, mental health counselors, should strive to eliminate the stigma in their counseling services and help Latin Americans appreciate themselves.
11. Conclusion

Mental health remains to be a significant challenge for most Latin Americans.  For the last decade, mental health issues have continued to increase amongst Latin Americans. Their life challenges and past trauma are some of the reasons why this population has faced mental challenges for a long time. They have also lived in a complicated cultural environment. Therefore, these people need specialized mental health counseling that effectively addresses the root of their mental health issues and gives solutions to their problems.