Barriers to Mental Health Access for Latinas and African Americans – NBC7 San Diego (20)

SAN DIEGO — In California, African American and Latino women face greater barriers to finding mental health and psychosocial support, a study conducted by two pro-Latino and African American feminist organizations in the state reveals.

The organizations confirmed that this problem was exacerbated by the pandemic and the high costs as a result of inflation.

The difficult economic situation of these two groups, as well as difficulties in being able to pay for transportation to take them to treatment, means that many Latina and African American women do not receive mental health counseling.

“In addition to the cost of transportation and the high cost of health care is an important part of the problem, but it also interacts with other barriers that make it really difficult for women in our society to seek help,” said Angela Ocampo. Consultant at EVITARUS.

The study showed that 62% of African American and Latino women said they were concerned about a mental health problem and did not seek help.

“The daily financial issues, their families from their homes, the things that live in their community,” Ocampo said.

Namely, the mental health problem is so serious that so many people aren’t covered by their Social Security system that they estimate that 79,000 people in San Diego haven’t even applied for a program.

“We have over 70,000 people, including many Latinos who currently don’t have health insurance, so imagine they don’t have health insurance but have mental health issues,” explained Patricia Izquierdo, who works in public relations for Covered California.

Mira Sepúlveda, a Hispanic, recounted the difficulties they faced at home because she was not in the mental health of her father, a war veteran.

“My father lived 30 years without telling anyone that he was depressed and sometimes with a lot of anxiety, and only decided to get services after he was unable to work,” said Sepúlveda, a San Diego resident. and the director of mental health at the family health center in the province.

And now as a San Diego-based specialist, he has spoken about the challenges and stigmas the Latino community still faces when seeking psychiatric care.

Having good mental health means emotional, psychological and social well-being.

“Managing stigma, but there is always work to be done, is still seen many times, particularly with Hispanic men, who resist receiving services,” Sepulveda added.

Authorities indicated during a news conference in San Diego on Tuesday that they would seek to provide care to more people in San Diego.

“We are now in the registration process, and we have until December 31st to start the year on a healthy note,” said Izquierdo.

In the study conducted by African-American Women Organizing for Political Action and Hispanic Women Organizing for Political Justice, send a message to action in our society that authorities devote more resources to keeping more African-American and Latina women in mental health professions.

“These numbers are alarming and it is these numbers that really tell our women that something needs to be done to improve the state of mental health,” Ocampo said.

In this study, they added, an important part of the women’s discomfort with finding mental health was that they could not find professionals they considered to have deep knowledge of their environment and the everyday problems they faced, such as discrimination. Depending on the color of their skin, the way they speak English or even their age.

This study was conducted on women between the ages of 18 and 87 in California and found that many of the women had problems they considered more important than taking care of their mental health, including paying rent, gas, or putting food on the table.