{"id":20129,"date":"2018-03-08T13:40:13","date_gmt":"2018-03-08T19:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/?post_type=insight_posts&p=20129"},"modified":"2019-06-21T13:58:20","modified_gmt":"2019-06-21T18:58:20","slug":"mental-illness-latinx-elders-las-moradas-apartments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/community\/mental-illness-latinx-elders-las-moradas-apartments\/","title":{"rendered":"TCSPP fellow helps reduce stigma of mental illness with LatinX elders"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1996<\/a>,<\/u> the Emory University School of Medicine studied non-urgent emergency room visits of Spanish-speaking patients to better understand the need for and effectiveness of interpreters in a medical setting. The study asked 530 native Spanish-speaking and English-speaking LatinX patients details about communication during their visit with their English speaking doctors. Thirty-four percent of visits in which both the patient\u2019s English and the doctor\u2019s Spanish were poor were reported as not having an interpreter present, and 84 percent of those 180 patients said one should have been used.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, more than 20 years later, the same language barriers between patients and doctors continue to be an issue, particularly within the mental health field.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Mariana Lopez, a Counseling Psychology graduate student at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cFrom a personal perspective, it\u2019s hard for my parents to find Spanish-speaking doctors,\u201d says Mariana Lopez, a Counseling Psychology graduate student at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. \u201cThere\u2019s a great need for Spanish-speaking counselors to work with the community, which is something that motivates me to go into this field.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a waiting list of up to eight months to see a counselor in Chicago\u2019s Spanish-speaking communities, Lopez says she is looking forward to closing that gap, as she\u2019s fluent in both English and Spanish.<\/p>\n

Lopez received a TCSPP fellowship in spring 2017 to work with partner site Las Moradas Apartments<\/a> in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood. At the apartments, she leads a mindfulness and psychoeducational program that focuses on stress reduction and an overall sense of well-being for the lower-income LatinX elderly population.<\/p>\n

The unnamed program, simply called “El Grupo de Meditaci\u00f3n” (the meditation group), was initially a team project involving another fellow and TCSPP\u2019s Center of Latino Mental Health.The other fellow has since graduated, but Lopez made the decision to keep going.<\/p>\n

\u201cI continued the work, and in continuing it I\u2019ve been refining it to figure out how to make something like this more accessible and understandable and culturally responsive to the needs of a very specific community,\u201d Lopez says. \u201cMost of the practices in mental health, including the application of meditation techniques in the U.S., have been developed based on studies of white culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lopez plans to \u00a0take those same practices and techniques to find commonalities within the Latino culture. She hopes to make them more suited to the people she works with.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeditation and some of these eastern healing practices have a lot in common with the indigenous beliefs of spirituality and nature,\u201d Lopez says.<\/p>\n

Since prayer is a very important part of this specific culture, she is able to draw parallels between meditation and praying, which makes the practice more comfortable.<\/p>\n

And comfort, Lopez says, is the main goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want this to be an outlet in which the Latino community\u2013specifically its elderly members\u2013has the chance to talk about their own feelings, especially when it comes to the effects of the current political climate\u00ad, which can trigger past traumas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reducing mental illness stigma the roundabout way<\/h3>\n

Referring to President Donald Trump\u2019s decision to give 2,500 Nicaraguans with provisional residency 14 months to leave the U.S., and the decision to not renew the Temporary Protected Status (TPS)<\/a>, Lopez says the Latino community likely feels as if it\u2019s under constant attack.\u201d<\/p>\n

While there are no TPS recipients in her program, Lopez says she does work with some people who face other obstacles they view as attacks on their community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a lack of support, and health care and other resources are being taken away, so we need to utilize our strengths,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd those strengths involve spirituality, healing, and connection.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through her work in the program, Lopez has noticed a growing need for that connection in the community\u2019s older generation.<\/p>\n

LatinX elders, especially first-generation immigrants, are in a situation that they haven\u2019t been in before. Instead of being near their own family members, they\u2019re living in assisted living homes or seeing their children once a month. Feelings of loneliness and isolation have become a major factor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Mariana Lopez<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, the stigma of mental illness and lack of access to culturally responsive care within the Latino community can lead some to not seeking help for their loneliness.\u00a0 Lopez is trying to find a constructive alternative around their hesitation and nontraditional methods to bring support to the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cCounseling is a Western practice,\u201d Lopez says. \u201cHowever, talking to a healer or a priest about hardships has always been common practice. For the elderly LatinX group I work with, we choose a gentle way to talk about different things that they\u2019re experiencing without them feeling like they\u2019re talking to a psychiatrist. They may just need an ear to listen to their concerns. Without an outlet, this population could end up with a lot of pain. Mental illnesses can sometimes manifest as body pain, including heart disease.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lopez also practices Reiki, a Japanese technique used for stress reduction and relaxation that promotes healing, and pranayama, specialized breathing practices with the group, to regulate the nervous system.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more oxygen we have in our body, the more we\u2019re going to heal, respond to treatments, and reduce our stress and anxiety,\u201d Lopez says of the practices. \u201cThe coordinator for Las Moradas Apartments recognized that some of the residents were manifesting symptoms of depression. These activities integrate psycho-education and relaxation techniques for overall well-being.\u201d<\/p>\n

This work has become a labor of love for Lopez. Setting out to help others find comfort in making connections, she didn\u2019t anticipate the comfort those connections would also give her. Working with older members of the Latino community has filled a familial hole she\u2019s had since she can remember. Her own grandparents lived in Mexico and were unable to travel.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t have grandparents growing up due to my family’s immigration history, and that was something that I always wanted and craved,\u201d Lopez says. \u201cIn the Latino community, respect for our elders is something that\u2019s very important. This is my way of having those elders in my life and continuing to follow the lead of my mother and people in my culture like her who love and respect those who came before them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Are you interested in learning more about The Chicago School of Professional Psychology? Fill out the form below to request more information, visit our\u00a0programs page<\/a>, or you can apply today through our\u00a0application portal.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Center of Latino Mental Health at The Chicago School\u2019s Chicago Campus partners with Las Moradas Apartments to share culturally responsive psychoeducation and mindfulness practices to LatinX elderly . Fellow Mariana Lopez talks about her experience. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":107214,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[191],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1032],"class_list":["post-20129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","insight_authors-shamontiel-l-vaughn"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTCSPP fellow discusses how she's helping LatinX elderly confront mental illnesses<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Center of Latino Mental Health at The Chicago School\u2019s Chicago Campus partners with Las Moradas Apartments to help LatinX elderly cope with confronting mental illness. Fellow Mariana Lopez (a Counseling Psychology graduate student at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology) talks about her experience.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/community\/mental-illness-latinx-elders-las-moradas-apartments\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"TCSPP fellow discusses how she's helping LatinX elderly confront mental illnesses\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Center of Latino Mental Health at The Chicago School\u2019s Chicago Campus partners with Las Moradas Apartments to help LatinX elderly cope with confronting mental illness. Fellow Mariana Lopez (a Counseling Psychology graduate student at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology) talks about her experience.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/community\/mental-illness-latinx-elders-las-moradas-apartments\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Insight Digital Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-03-08T19:40:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-06-21T18:58:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/InstightDigital_1404x7668_TCSPP-fellow-helps-reduce-stigma-of-mental-illness-with-LatinX-elders_64.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1404\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"766\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Shamontiel Vaughn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Shamontiel Vaughn\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"TCSPP fellow discusses how she's helping LatinX elderly confront mental illnesses","description":"The Center of Latino Mental Health at The Chicago School\u2019s Chicago Campus partners with Las Moradas Apartments to help LatinX elderly cope with confronting mental illness. Fellow Mariana Lopez (a Counseling Psychology graduate student at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology) talks about her experience.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/community\/mental-illness-latinx-elders-las-moradas-apartments\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"TCSPP fellow discusses how she's helping LatinX elderly confront mental illnesses","og_description":"The Center of Latino Mental Health at The Chicago School\u2019s Chicago Campus partners with Las Moradas Apartments to help LatinX elderly cope with confronting mental illness. Fellow Mariana Lopez (a Counseling Psychology graduate student at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology) talks about her experience.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/community\/mental-illness-latinx-elders-las-moradas-apartments\/","og_site_name":"Insight Digital Magazine","article_published_time":"2018-03-08T19:40:13+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-06-21T18:58:20+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1404,"height":766,"url":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/InstightDigital_1404x7668_TCSPP-fellow-helps-reduce-stigma-of-mental-illness-with-LatinX-elders_64.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Shamontiel Vaughn","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Shamontiel Vaughn","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/community\/mental-illness-latinx-elders-las-moradas-apartments\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/community\/mental-illness-latinx-elders-las-moradas-apartments\/"},"author":{"name":"Shamontiel Vaughn","@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/#\/schema\/person\/6b1e368865bb0ad0d087f19d543129fc"},"headline":"TCSPP fellow helps reduce stigma of mental illness with LatinX elders","datePublished":"2018-03-08T19:40:13+00:00","dateModified":"2019-06-21T18:58:20+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/community\/mental-illness-latinx-elders-las-moradas-apartments\/"},"wordCount":1103,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/community\/mental-illness-latinx-elders-las-moradas-apartments\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/InstightDigital_1404x7668_TCSPP-fellow-helps-reduce-stigma-of-mental-illness-with-LatinX-elders_64.jpg","articleSection":["Community Articles"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/community\/mental-illness-latinx-elders-las-moradas-apartments\/","url":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/community\/mental-illness-latinx-elders-las-moradas-apartments\/","name":"TCSPP fellow discusses how she's helping LatinX elderly confront mental illnesses","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/community\/mental-illness-latinx-elders-las-moradas-apartments\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/community\/mental-illness-latinx-elders-las-moradas-apartments\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/InstightDigital_1404x7668_TCSPP-fellow-helps-reduce-stigma-of-mental-illness-with-LatinX-elders_64.jpg","datePublished":"2018-03-08T19:40:13+00:00","dateModified":"2019-06-21T18:58:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/#\/schema\/person\/6b1e368865bb0ad0d087f19d543129fc"},"description":"The Center of Latino Mental Health at The Chicago School\u2019s Chicago Campus partners with Las Moradas Apartments to help LatinX elderly cope with confronting mental illness. Fellow Mariana Lopez (a Counseling Psychology graduate student at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology) talks about her experience.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/community\/mental-illness-latinx-elders-las-moradas-apartments\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/community\/mental-illness-latinx-elders-las-moradas-apartments\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/community\/mental-illness-latinx-elders-las-moradas-apartments\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/InstightDigital_1404x7668_TCSPP-fellow-helps-reduce-stigma-of-mental-illness-with-LatinX-elders_64.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/InstightDigital_1404x7668_TCSPP-fellow-helps-reduce-stigma-of-mental-illness-with-LatinX-elders_64.jpg","width":1404,"height":766,"caption":"old couple on picnic blanket"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/community\/mental-illness-latinx-elders-las-moradas-apartments\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"TCSPP fellow helps reduce stigma of mental illness with LatinX elders"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/","name":"Insight Digital Magazine","description":"The Chicago School","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/#\/schema\/person\/6b1e368865bb0ad0d087f19d543129fc","name":"Shamontiel Vaughn"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20129"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107425,"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20129\/revisions\/107425"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20129"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=20129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}