As a mental health therapist in Colorado primarily serving the Latinx community for 10 years, I have experienced challenges when providing services. This includes limited options for specialty referrals, clients not being able to afford services due to lack of insurance or financial means, stigma, as well as language barriers. I have often experienced feeling frustrated as I hear clients suffering the separation from their family and primary support system and mental health services being limited to them in a moment of such great need.

I began to hear from clients their hesitation to seek services due to the impact of paying out of pocket for mental health services. Another side of the story are clients’ hesitations due to fear of their records being connected to the state and thus feeling at risk of deportation. Clients will come to services with significant clinical issues such as those caused by the trauma of crossing the border, and of being separated from their primary support system, others talked about the impact of fleeing their country due to violence.

For many years I searched and attempted to refer clients to someone who specialized in a specific area such as trauma or eating disorders, and with the provider needing to be bilingual and offer low-cost services so the patients could afford the service. As you can imagine, this brought another level of frustration. Quickly I realized clients were not able to afford the fees, nor did they know how to navigate phone calls, locating the business or perhaps understanding the importance of someone “specialized” in trauma supporting them. As providers, we are aware of some of the challenges our state faces with access to some mental health services, even if the client has insurance coverage and has an understanding on how to navigate the system.

So as a therapist, what are we to do? What are the community resources we can connect these clients to and what services might facilitate improving their wellbeing and provide a sense of community as they adjust to daily stressors? Here are some well known resources to mental health providers who work primarily with the Latinx community and have proven to be accessible to clients who are primarily Spanish speaking. Reach out to them for your Spanish speaking clients.

NAMI: https://www.nami.org/Home

La Cocina: https://www.lacocinahome.org/clinical

El Centro Amistad: https://www.elcentroamistad.org/

Community Reach Center: https://www.communityreachcenter.org/

Aurora Mental Health Center: https://www.auroramhr.org/

Jefferson Center for Mental Health: https://www.jcmh.org/

Mental Health Partners: https://www.mhpcolorado.org/

WellPower: https://www.wellpower.org/

El Consultorio: All therapists are Bilingual (Spanish/English). https://el-consultorio.com/