Photo courtesy of Grant Halliburton Foundation
To kick off Mental Health Awareness Month, the Grant Halliburton Foundation has launched the Here for Texas website in Spanish to ensure that mental health information and databases are available for Spanish speakers. The website that is already available in English serves as a free community tool and offers easy access for those seeking mental health, addiction and suicide prevention resources.
The website translation was made possible thanks to a grant provided by United HealthCare. The grant also allowed the Foundation to hire two Hispanic Outreach staff members who master’s degrees in social work and are native Spanish speakers.
“The Hispanic population is diverse and comprises the largest ethnic minority group in Texas at 50 percent,” Blanca Garcia, LCSW-S, director of mental health resources at Grant Halliburton Foundation, said. “While this community suffers from the same mental health conditions the rest of the country faces, cultural differences and language barriers may lead mental health professionals to misdiagnose Hispanics, and fear of having the stigma of a mental illness prevents some from seeking help.”
According to the National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI) and Hispanic Star:
- 18% of Hispanic adults have a mental illness
- Only 34% access mental health treatment
- Treatment barriers are stigma, cost and language
- More than 10 million Latinos in the U.S. reported having a mental illness
- 35.1% of Hispanic or Latino residents received treatment for mental illness.
The goal of the Hispanic outreach initiative is to make all of Grant Halliburton Foundation’s information, presentations and resources available in Spanish. The Foundation has translated all of its marketing and educational materials into Spanish, updated the information in its brochures and mental health presentations to ensure that they are accurate, and will continue to provide bilingual services to callers on the Here For Texas Mental Health Navigation Line.
Here For Texas Mental Health Navigation Line is at no cost to callers. The line is connected to a trained mental health navigator who can offer support and information about services and resources in their area. These trained volunteers gather pertinent information from the caller regarding their needs. Then, an experienced mental health professional helps to identify specific resources tailored to the caller’s needs within 24 hours.
The Mental Health Navigation Line is not a crisis line, but volunteers and professionals can direct callers to additional crisis resources.
“I want the Hispanic community to start talking about mental health, so they aren’t afraid to reach out for care when someone in the family needs help,” said Garcia. “From new families immigrating to the U.S. to first-generation Texans, there are so many mental health conditions that go unaddressed. We’re taught to be strong and keep working hard no matter what. Our Hispanic families deserve to be taken care of too, especially in terms of mental health. We want to make sure they have access to information, support and resources.”
The Grant Halliburton Foundation works with other Hispanic-serving organizations like The Concilio, Therapy Works Counseling, Bachman Lake Together, Cannenta Center, Community Does It and DFW Hispanic Heritage Ambassadors, and others. The Foundation provides its services and resources to these organizations.
“We hope the Foundation will be the go-to place for mental health questions, information and resources for the Hispanic community,” Garcia said.
