As a psychologist in my home country of Mexico, I understood first-hand the importance of mental health support and community health education. As a promotora at La Clínica, I am once again reminded of the barriers people face to living healthy lives. These barriers can be practical such as transportation, housing, and poverty or they can be cultural such as the stigma that’s attached to mental health. They can also be due to a lack of awareness and knowledge.

In Abriendo Mentes, Cerrando Estigmas (Opening Minds, Closing Stigmas), we work intentionally to remove these barriers and address these stigmas. Working alongside Community Health Educators, our job is to increase health knowledge and awareness while providing community members with the tools and resources they need to optimize their health.  Our workshop series focusing on anxiety, stress, and depression not only impacts the program participants but it also reaches their families benefiting future generations.

I know that change does not happen overnight. The communities and people we serve have acute needs. But each experience brings knowledge and to even put one single grain of sand towards a positive transformation counts for a lot.