A free 12-week program is aiming to help Hispanic youths and their families in the Vegas Valley achieve better mental health. Familia Adelante, or Family Forward, is helping families find useful and beneficial mental-health strategies to help their children grapple with mental distress.
Margarita Romano, founder and head therapist of Fuente De Vida, said the program is centered on not only facilitating a safe space to talk, but being able to do so in Spanish or English. Romano said mental health is in what she calls “a crisis,” especially for minority groups such as Hispanics.
“In the Hispanic culture, it is very difficult,” she said. “The parents don’t speak the language, the English language, and some of the children don’t feel comfortable expressing it in Spanish. So inside the family it is already a barrier, in the language barrier.”
Romano added for many Hispanic families, stigma surrounding mental health can inhibit finding necessary care. According to Mental Health America depressive episodes increased from just over 12% to 15% in Latinx-Hispanic youths ages 12 to 17 between 2015 and 2018. Hispanic adults and youths are more susceptible to mental distress relating to immigration and acculturation, the group added.
Romano said the program is best suited for bilingual Hispanic families with at-risk youths between the ages of 10 and 15 and added those who have experienced difficulty in learning, have mild behavioral problems or are not fully aware of how to deal with their emotions, would greatly benefit from the intervention-style program.
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Congratulations Margarita Romano and team. Let me know if you need anything else regarding the Familia Adelante Program
Dr. Richard Cervantes