Service-learning provides an experientially-based pedagogical approach that can increase student engagement in the learning environment and promote the development of cultural competency when working with diverse populations. This article reports on the curriculum development of a Latinx mental health undergraduate service-learning course that discussed disparities in Latinx access and utilization of mental health services and used service-learning as a teaching method to increase students’ cultural awareness and skills by putting their knowledge into practice in community-based settings. We provide an overview of the course including specific guidelines for readings, assignments, and group facilitation for future application of this course in Latinx mental health. Students of this course have developed critical awareness of their identities as it relates to their work with Latinxs, and a continued commitment to meet community needs. We briefly discuss challenges in implementing similar ethnically-rooted and service-learning multicultural psychology curriculum.
AlegríaM.Mulvaney-DayN.WooM.TorresM.GaoS.OddoV. (2007). Correlates of past-year mental health service use among Latinos: Results from the national Latino and Asian American study. American Journal of Public Health, 97(1), 76–83.
AnastasiaE. A.BridgesA. J. (2015). Understanding service utilization disparities and depression in Latinos: The role of fatalismo. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 17(6), 1758–1764. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-015-0196-y
4.
ArredondoP.Gallardo-CooperM.Delgado-RomeroE. A.ZapataA. L. (2014). Culturally responsive counseling with latinas/os. American Counseling Association.
5.
BanksJ. (2008). Teaching strategies for ethnic studies. Allyn & Bacon.
BringleR. G.RuizA. I.BrownM. A.ReebR. N. (2016). Enhancing the psychology curriculum through service learning. Psychology Learning & Teaching, 15(3), 294–309. https://doi.org/10.1177/1475725716659966
8.
BurnettJ. A.HamelD.LongL. L. (2004). Service learning in graduate counselor education: Developing multicultural counseling competency. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 32, 180–191. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2161-1912.2004.tb00370.x
9.
CervantesJ. M. (2010). Counseling Latina/Latino clients using a family systems perspective[DVD]. In Multicultural counseling video series. Distributed by American Psychological Association.
10.
ChaoR. C.-L.PaikoL.ZhangY. S. D.ZhaoC. (2017). Service-learning: A training method to enhance multicultural competence toward international students. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology, 3(1), 28–42. https://doi.org/10.1037/stl0000078
11.
ChávezT. A. (2016). Humanistic values in traditional healing practices of curanderismo. Journal of Humanistic Counseling, 55(2), 129–135. https://doi.org/10.1002/johc.12029
12.
ChávezT. A.FernandezI. T.Hipolito-DelgadoC. P.RiveraE. T. (2016). Unifying liberation psychology and humanistic values to promote social justice in counseling. The Journal of Humanistic Counseling, 55(3), 166–182. https://doi.org/10.1002/johc.12032
13.
Comas-DiazL. (2006). Latino healing: The integration of ethnic psychology into psychotherapy. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 43(4), 436–453. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-3204.43.4.436
14.
Cook-SatherA. (2016). Creating brave spaces within and through student-faculty pedagogical partnerships. Teaching and Learning Together in Higher Education, 18, 1–5. http://repository.brynmawr.edu/tlthe/vol1/iss18/1
GloriaA. M.Pope-DavisD. B. (1997). Cultural ambience: The importance of a culturally aware learning environment in the training and education of counselors. In Pope-DavisD. B.ColemanH. L. K. (Eds.), Multicultural aspects of counseling series, Vol. 7. Multicultural counseling competencies: Assessment, education and training, and supervision (pp. 242–259). Sage Publications, Inc.
17.
GoodmanL. A.LiangB.HelmsJ. E.LattaR. E.SparksE.WeintraubS. R. (2004). Training counseling psychologists as social justice agents: Feminist and multicultural principles in action. The Counseling Psychologist, 32(6), 793–836. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000004268802
18.
GordonJ.BenitoP.AltmayerE.Lozano SerranoM.LustresE. (Producers), & BollainI.(Director). (2010). También la lluvia[Motion Picture]. Vitagraph Films.
HernándezP.McDowellT. (2010). Intersectionality, power, and relational safety in context: Key concepts in clinical supervision. Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 4(1), 29–35. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017064
21.
Hernández-WolfeP. (2013). A borderlands view on Latinos, Latin Americans, and decolonization: Rethinking mental health. Jason Aronson.
22.
HoogasianR.LijtmaerR. (2010). Integrating Curanderismo into counselling and psychotherapy. Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 23(3), 297–307. https://doi.org/10.1080/09515070.2010.505752
23.
KatzJ.DuBoisM.WigdersonS. (2014). Learning by helping? Undergraduate communication outcomes associated with training or service-learning experiences. Teaching of Psychology, 41(3), 251–255. https://doi.org/10.1177/0098628314537982
24.
KeyesK. M.MartinsS. S.HatzenbuehlerM. L.BlancoC.BatesL. M.HasinD. S. (2012). Mental health service utilization for psychiatric disorders among Latinos living in the United States: The role of ethnic subgroup, ethnic identity, and language/social preferences. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 47(3), 383–394. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-010-0323-y
25.
KimG.Aguado LoiC. X.ChiribogaD. A.JangY.ParmeleeP.AllenR. S. (2011). Limited English proficiency as a barrier to mental health service use: A study of Latino and Asian immigrants with psychiatric disorders. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 45(1), 104–110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2010.04.031
OwenJ.JordanII, T. A.TurnerD.DavisD. E.HookJ. N.LeachM. M. (2014). Therapists’ multicultural orientation: Client perceptions of cultural humility, spiritual/religious commitment, and therapy outcomes. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 42(1), 91–98. https://doi.org/10.1177/009164711404200110
29.
PappamihielN. E.MorenoM. (2011). Retaining Latino students: Culturally responsive instruction in colleges and universities. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 10(4), 331–344. https://doi.org/10.1177/1538192711410602
Ramírez StegeA. M. (2021, May2). Dimensions of Latinx mental health course materials. Retrieved fromosf.io/2m3jt
32.
Ramírez StegeA. M.ChinM. Y.GrahamS. R. (2020). A critical postcolonial and resilience-based framework of supervision in action. Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 14(4), 316–323. https://doi.org/10.1037/tep0000276
33.
RogersM. R.O’BryonE. C. (2014). Multicultural training models and curriculum. In LeongF. T. L. (Ed.), APA handbook of multicultural psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 659–679). American Psychological Association.
34.
SmithM. D. M.JenningsL.LakhanS. (2014). International education and service learning: Approaches toward cultural competency and social justice. The Counseling Psychologist, 42(8), 1188–1214. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000014557499
35.
SolórzanoD. G.YossoT. J. (2002). Critical race methodology: Counter-storytelling as an analytical framework for education research. Qualitative Inquiry, 8(1), 23–44. https://doi.org/10.1177/107780040200800103
36.
TintoV. (1997). Classrooms as communities: Exploring the educational character of student persistence. Journal of Higher Education, 68(6), 599–623. https://doi.org/10.2307/2959965
37.
Tomlinson-ClarkeS. M.ClarkeD. (2010). Culturally focused community-centered service learning: An international cultural immersion experience. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 38, 166–175. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2161-1912.2010.tb00124.x
38.
ValdezC. R.AbegglenJ.HauserC. T. (2013). Fortalezas familiares program: Building sociocultural and family strengths in Latina women with depression and their families. Family Process, 52(3), 378–393. https://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12008
39.
VegaW. A.LopezS. R. (2001). Priority issues in Latino mental health services research. Mental Health Services Research, 3, 189–200. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013125030718
40.
VeraE. M.SpeightS. L. (2003). Multicultural competence, social justice, and counseling psychology: Expanding our roles. The Counseling Psychologist, 31(3), 253–272. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000003031003001
41.
ViladrichA. (2006). Botánicas in America’s backyard: Uncovering the world of Latino healers’ herb-healing practices in New York City. Human Organization, 65(4), 407–419. https://www.jstor.org/stable/44127454
42.
VillatoroA. P.MoralesE. S.MaysV. M. (2014). Family culture in mental health help-seeking and utilization in a nationally representative sample of Latinos in the United States: The NLAAS. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 84, 353–363. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0099844
43.
WigganG.WatsonM. J. (2016). Teaching the whole child: The Importance of culturally responsiveness, community engagement, and character development in high achieving African American students. The Urban Review, 48(5), 766–798. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-016-0377-6
YossoT. J. (2005). Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth. Race Ethnicity and Education, 8(1), 69–91. https://doi.org/10.1080/1361332052000341006
