Fortaleza Mental
Mental Strength: Raising Resilient Children
The Fortaleza Mental project started in 2018 when we presented our Healthy Youth Survey (HYS) data to Spanish-speaking moms and dads in Monroe, WA. Our coalition had several burning questions that only the community could answer: 1) Why did more than 50% of Hispanic and Latino High School Seniors report being depressed on the HYS; and 2) Why weren’t they accessing the behavioral health services we were so proud of bringing into the Monroe School District?
The coalition naively believed that these disparities were the result of a lack of awareness. What we learned changed how we serve this important population in our community!
Moms at the Healthy Youth Survey review meeting (there were more than twenty and just one dad) overwhelmingly said they were aware of the no-cost behavioral health services the coalition and school district had brought into our schools. Many parents even said they had accessed them at least once… and then, the “BUT” dropped.
“My daughter was seeing the campus mental health therapist, BUT when my husband found out, she had to stop.”
“My son had a good relationship with the Student Support Advocate, BUT when my brother found out, he had to stop,” and on the stories went.
We Had to Listen Before Acting
Moms told us loud and clear they needed help talking to the men in their life. Their husbands, brothers, fathers, uncles and cousins wanted the best for their children, but when it came to mental health, the topic was often a non-starter.
Soon, the coalition began holding focus groups with Spanish-speaking men of all ages and learned social stigma was a factor – men did not want to be perceived as weak, or like they had lost control of their families, or even as too American to keep the approval of their elders; however, stigma was not the only factor.
For many men, the existence of mental health is in dispute.
For those who acknowledge it, the cure has been to tell your children to get over it, or put them to work so they could not be depressed any more, or to silently hope it would go away on its own.
We Learned about Mental Strength and Moved Forward
Several concepts emerged from these important and focused conversations. While mental health was not a topic of interest for many of the men we spoke with, growing children’s mental strength had lots of traction! More than that, many men in our focus group wanted to learn how they could be better at growing their families’ mental strength!
Some of the men also reported attending a mental health session with a family member, but reported immense discomfort and feeling out of place because their culture and beliefs weren’t being reflected appropriately. Equipped with a better understanding of their true needs, we realized there’s more to promoting mental health and resource utilization than availability.
Over the years since holding those initial focus groups, we’ve been able to move forward with a coordinated and multi-pronged approach;
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- We held classes to train trusted ambassadors in the community who could talk about the importance of mental strength and how to access helpful services,
- We developed the “Let’s Be Better” social norms campaign focused on empowering men to grow their family’s mental strength;
- We created an instructional video for providers that focuses on aligning their practice with the six principles of trauma-informed care;
- We are contracted with Care Solace to allow community members to explore nearby behavioral health resources and then move into brief case management for ensuring a provider meets their personal and insurance needs before scheduling appointments on their behalf; and,
- Most recently, we’ve completed our short documentary “Mental Strength: Raising Resilient Children” in which Spanish-speaking men of different ages encourage viewers to acknowledge the existence of mental health, to know they are not alone, and that help is available.
We Want to Share Our Tools
We know that Monroe does not face unique challenges when considering the needs of our Spanish-speaking community. Our hope is to empower your work by sharing everything that we’ve done. In turn, we hope you will share your resources with us. Together, we are making a difference!