ABOUT 

A Change

Growing up, I was always the older and wiser child. My family counted on me to get things done; so, I was always translating papers, making appointments, etc. When one of my close cousins began to suffer with depression, she came to me to help her have a conversation with my aunt. We sat down and I explained to her what depression was and the resources available to help my cousin. She responded back with, "mejor vamos a la iglesia y hablamos con el pastor" (lets go to church and speak to the pastor). In that moment, it became clear that stigmas around mental health was an issue happening inside of my family. That is when I decided to speak to other members of our community and asked them various questions about what they thought mental health meant and the importance of it. 

Thanks to this, I concluded that mental health is often overlooked in the Latinx community. It is seen as something that will go away on its own. You are seen as weak or not connected to God for stating that you have issues with your mind. We all should be able to have a conversation about what is affecting our well-being. For this reason, I created a program where I meet with a set group of Latinx individuals and talk about what mental health is. In this program, I will raise awareness of the importance of mental health and touch on some of the stigmas the Latinx community has attached to mental health. At the end of this program, I hope to be able to connect some of the individuals with local professionals who have a Spanish background or are Latinx themselves. 

This is The Truth Behind Mental Health.