AUSTIN, Texas — If global events are making you feel bad, maybe there is something you can do about it. You may not be able to change the world, but you might be able to improve your own mental well-being.

We may not always acknowledge it, but a lot of people are living through a mental health crisis, especially in our Latino community.

“Compound that with a recent stressful and traumatic global pandemic, and you’re presented with quite a problem, a problem that many of our communities may not even want to acknowledge, let alone address,” says Vanessa Fuentes, Austin city council member and chair of CAN, Austin’s Community Advancement Network.

With more than 400,000 Spanish speakers in Travis County, this coalition of 29 local organizations is uniting to help bring down the traditional barriers that still keep some Hispanics from facing their mental health concerns.

“So, it’s important that we fight against the stigma and that we have these important conversations,” says Fuentes.

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Austin is already home to a national crisis hotline, but CAN’s plan is to nip the problem in the bud before one person’s poor mental wellness spreads to the family and beyond.

Raul Alvarez, executive director for CAN explains, “If people aren’t seeking help, that that also can lead to adverse effects.”

Information on mental health services is already out there, what CAN has created is a new tool kit to navigate the system.

Alvarez says, “It’s just the engagement piece that isn’t there to kind of help people navigate what’s available. And so that’s part of what this process was is how do we create a toolkit designed for engagement in mind.”

CAN calls their toolkit “Pathways to Mental Health Healing,” and it intentionally includes both modern and traditional mental health resources for Hispanics and their families.

Diana Anzaldua with Contigo Wellness says, “We also connect people to bilingual mental health professionals, and cultural and ancestral healers within our own people wellness network.”

Related Links:

Community Advancement Network

Can Pathways to Mental Health Healing