The overarching goal of the Connecticut Latino Behavioral Health System (CT LBHS) is improved behavioral health care through the permanent expansion and enhancement of culturally relevant treatment alternatives for the Latino population of Connecticut. The Hispanic Clinic of the Connecticut Mental Health Center functions as the coordinating anchor for the CT LBHS. The aim is to ensure that mental health and addiction treatment is both accessible and culturally and linguistically appropriate throughout south central Connecticut, eventually replicating this behavioral healthcare service model at the state level.
Population of focus
Monolingual Spanish-speaking adults and elders
Implementation
In order to combat increasing waiting lists for services, the Connecticut Latino Behavioral Health System was formed as a collaborative of 13 agencies in the greater New Haven area. The collaborative allows for sharing of resources and coordination of national recruiting processes that target bicultural, bilingual practitioners and staff.
The CT LBHS expands upon an existing and longstanding relationship among the member agencies to ensure that mental health and substance use disorder treatment is both accessible and culturally and linguistically appropriate throughout an 18 town area that includes and surrounds New Haven.
In addition, given the need to establish a culturally and linguistically competent workforce, the CT LBHS Leadership applied nationally recognized and recommended recruitment and retention practices set in place by the Hispanic Clinic and Yale affiliated training programs in order to foster the permanent placement of bilingual and bicultural behavioral health providers in CT LBHS community organizations. Following a successful local and national search, they recruited a multidisciplinary workforce of individuals representing the fields of social work, psychology, and psychiatry. The professional services offered through this expansion include individual, family, and group therapy modalities, case management, psychiatric evaluations, and medication management for Spanish-speaking adults presenting with a range of psychiatric and substance use disorders.
Contact
The Hispanic Clinic
34 Park Street, New Haven, CT 06519
(203) 974-5805
ctlbhs@yale.edu
www.ctlbhs.org