The Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology (MSPP) received a $3,000 grant from Culture InSight, an operating program of the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation to support the Lucero Latino Mental Health program.

The Lucero program is the only program in New England designed to train Latino and non-Latino psychologists to develop Spanish and cultural competency in caring for the Latino population.

“We are grateful for this gift. The need for mental health professionals specifically trained to provide services for the complex mental health needs of Latinos has reached a crucial point,” said Dr. Nicholas Covino, president of MSPP via press release.

Shani Dowd, the Director of Culture Insight at the Harvard Pilgrim Foundation, said Culture InSight is proud to support initiatives targeting ethnic minority communities. “We do what we can to support innovations like the Lucero program — the growing diversity of our region’s population makes it that much more important to teach techniques to improve relationships across differences, gather clinically relevant cultural information and learn to appreciate the dynamics. Together, we are working to end disparities in health care.”

In America one in every eight individuals is Latino, and it is estimated this number will become one quarter of the population by 2050. Among those who are able to access mental health services, most fail to return after the first visit due to the lack of "cultural fit," according to MSPP research. Latino psychologists comprise less than two percent of the nation’s psychologists. That creates a need for professionals who can competently treat mental health problems in the Latino population, which is already critical and will become more severe during the next five years.

Said Covino, “Because of the stigma attached to mental illness in many cultures and the sensitive nature of the therapeutic relationship, using interpreter services has not been effective.” He added research has shown patients are more likely to continue therapy when the therapist speaks and understands the nuances of their language and displays sensitivity to their culture.

MSPP students in the Lucero Latino Mental Health program participate in two intensive full summer immersion experiences in various Latin American settings including volunteer mental health work. Students have extensive clinical training in the field to enhance knowledge of specific mental health needs of Latinos.

The Lucero Latino Mental Health program was inspired by the late Dr. Cynthia Lucero, a graduate of MSPP who focused her career on the mental health needs of Spanish speaking communities. Lucero collapsed while running the 2002 Boston marathon and died, which is why the MSPP has annual 5K run named after Lucero.

Culture InSight is an operating program of the Harvard Pilgrim Foundation, which provides cultural competency training to health and human service professionals and organizations in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine.