SALT LAKE CITY — For 10 years, the Latino Behavioral Health Center has been working to reduce behavioral health disparities in Utah's Latino community.
According to the 2021 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, only 36% of Hispanic and Latino adults across the country who needed mental health services received them, compared to 52% of white adults.
"Some of the major barriers are going to be lack of insurance, lack of accessibility to affordable insurance, and then lack of providers and caregivers that are of the culture or culturally responsive and speak the language," said the center's executive director, Javier Alegre.
The Latino Behavioral Health Center provides services like therapy, peer support groups, and much more — in Spanish. They are also currently training about 20 new providers to give support to the Latino community.
"When you're trying to share your inner thoughts, your frustrations, your trauma, language can become problematic in your own native language," Alegre said. "Imagine trying to have this conversation with someone you can't relate to."
They also pair clients with professionals, like Laura Santos, who share a similar culture. Santos says culture can have both a negative and positive impact on mental health.
"There are services, sometimes we don't know, sometimes we think because we are immigrants, we don't have the same rights and same opportunities as people born here, but we do have services," Santos said.
Alegre says 10-12 different countries are represented among the center's staff members, all from Central America, South America and Europe.
"We may not be exactly from the same country, from the same background, but close enough," Alegre said. "We relate we have similar histories, similar trauma, historical trauma that allows us to open up in an easier way."
Now the center is even better equipped to help new and current clients in a new building that has over two times the space with added amenities for staff and clients.
"This space was intentionally created to make sure those that came in feel comfortable. When you walk around, you'll see two living rooms, two seating areas, a coffee shop area, a dining table, a kitchen, you see a home," Alegre said.
The new center has also been a hit among Santos and clients, with many taking the opportunity to use the kitchen and living room space as an area to relax, decompress, and appreciate Hispanic culture.
"Being here and interacting with clients, it just makes me feel like this is our culture. And me being an immigrant myself, I feel like I'm home," Santos said.
The center has made great strides for Utah's Latino community, but Alegre says there are still systemic behavioral health barriers that need to be addressed.
"if you are looking to reform rules, systems, policies and procedures, you need to have equity integration, accessibility, culture, and language as the basic foundation of a new system," Alegre said. "We have to start thinking a bit more uniquely about other communities."
If you or someone you know needs support, you can call the Latino Behavioral Health Center's Warm Line at 801-587-1055 or you can contact the center closest to you directly.
