“I’ve had multiple experiences where mental health professionals, both of color and not, have shown me their understanding of how my ethnicity and other identities inform my experiences. Not having to spend the session educating the mental health practitioner about my culture allows me to delve deeper into my specific needs at the present moment. Not needing to code-switch or alter the language I use to express my feelings makes a difference in how I feel after the session and in the long-term. It’s crucial that a consumer feel like they can be their true self in therapy because this might be one of the very few places where you have that privilege. These experiences were vastly different from non-competent care as I was not encouraged to continue treatment with them and felt unsupported by a system that can be very daunting and hard to access at times. I think humility, sensitivity, or compassionate are preferable to “competency” because demonstrating that you have a vested interest and making a genuine effort to understand better where I am coming from shows that you’re an empathetic individual who wants to make sure my treatment is as tailored to my life as possible.” Dior Vargas, on the importance of Cultural Sensitivity ******* Governor Andrew M. Cuomo @nygovcuomo today announced the release of the first report from the New York State Suicide Prevention Task Force. Established by the Governor in November 2017, the Task Force serves to increase awareness of and access to supportive services with a special focus on high-risk groups including veterans, Latina adolescents, and members of the LGBTQ community. Recommendations from the report include strengthening public health prevention efforts, integrating suicide prevention in healthcare, timely sharing of data for surveillance and planning, and infusing cultural competence throughout suicide prevention activities. #suicideprevention #nys #newyork #mentalhealthawareness #mentalhealth #veterans #latinas #latina #lgbtq #lgbtqia https://www.instagram.com/p/Bwmz3_sn9Zh/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=ubu471pd7xuo
