Beyond Children's Mental Health: Cultural Considerations to Foster Latino Child and Family Mental Health

Abstract

Clinicians trained to assess and treat child psychopathology are facing an increasing need to expand their clinical expertise outside of traditional frameworks, which have historically focused largely on the child or the child-mother dyad. Clinicians treating children also need to be prepared to assess and address the systems of care that affect a child's mental health, starting with their family. There is a scarcity of Latino mental health providers and limited clinical opportunities or settings that serve this population by incorporating a developmental, cultural, and sociopolitical framework into high quality care of the whole family.

Keywords: Developmental psychology; Diversity; Latino children’s mental health; Latino family mental health; Latinx mental health; Mental health equity; Racism; Structural competence.