When Jenny Patino went to therapy for the first time at the age of 15 for depression, she said the therapists didn’t help her with her problems and only made them worse.

“The therapists didn’t know how families work in the Latino community,” said Patino, 22, a member and former political correspondent of Columbia’s Latino Alliance. She said a patriarchal family and overbearing father were the root of her depression.

“Had we had a therapist who could see our world views, then things might’ve been different,” she said.

In light of situations like Patino’s, cultural competence has become a priority for the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, 325 N. Wells St. The school unveiled its new Center for Latino Mental Health at its Cultural Impact Conference on Sept. 5.

The lack of cultural awareness and language barriers can make it difficult for psychologists to offer appropriate solutions for their patients, according to doctors at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology.

Patino said going to therapy was considered taboo in her Latino family.

“[To my parents], the therapists were considered outsiders and they didn’t have to know our business,” Patino said. “I was just expected to get better [and] pick myself back up.”

The goal of the Center for Latino Mental Health is to raise awareness and understanding of culturally competent mental health services, said Dr. Virginia Quiñonez of the Chicago School of Professional

Psychology.

The Center, whose secondary priority is research, currently has a lab run by faculty and students where they conduct research related to Latino mental health.

“We were very interested in the Latino population basically because there is a huge need for individuals who can work with this population,” said Dr. Hector Torres, the Center’s assistant professor and initiative coordinator. “We estimate that less than 1 percent of psychologists in the United States are bilingual or Latinos.  At the same time, there is [also] a huge need for services in the community.”

That is when faculty members at the school, including Torres, Dr. Michael

Horowitz and Quiñonez, decided to develop an academic program targeting Latino patients’ needs and services.

“To be successful, you need the cultural awareness, the competence and the language in a community you lack familiarity with,” Horowitz said. “So we decided to work on that initiative and try to recruit more Latinos to psychology and mental health and also bring more non-Latinos to learn the culture.”

In the Center’s program there is a post-graduate, 12-credit certificate where professionals train master’s degree students on how to work effectively with the Latino community.

There is also a second certificate for students with a bachelor’s degree who want to work on a bachelor’s level as case managers or facilitators.

Classes will begin in 2009, Torres said, and the Center is now receiving applications. The program is expected to have approximately 40 to 50 students in the first semester and will teach its students the knowledge, skills and language they will need to know to be able to effectively work with Latino patients.

The main issue the school’s students have to address is the different levels of acculturation, or a how a person identifies with the American culture and/or the Latino culture, Torres said.

For Patino, that translated to her family disapproving of her moving out.

“I was the first one in my family to go to college and I moved away,” Patino said. “My parents tried to guilt me into making me think I left my family behind. And I wanted a therapist who understood this was out of the ordinary for the average Latino family.”

Language, the cornerstone of most cultures, will also be emphasized at the Center, so patients can be better served. Patino said the language barrier definitely prevented the solutions she sought in family therapy because her parents weren’t fluent in English.

Another issue the school said needs to be addressed is immigration and its emotional impact on Latino patients.

“The immigration issues are something that affect us directly,” Torres said.

Patino agrees. Her therapist didn’t understand her background on immigration and couldn’t help her, she said.

“I would talk about my feelings regarding immigration issues and then end up having to teach my therapist about immigration,” Patino said. “That’s not what I wanted.”

The Chicago School also has its eye on expanding to the West Coast.  Los Angeles boasts an even greater Latino community, so the school is considering opening a center like Chicago’s in Los Angeles.

Patino said she no longer goes to therapy because of her unhelpful experiences, but said she would go to certified professionals from the Center for Latino Mental Health.

“You always want to go talk to somebody you feel is going to understand you, and that’s what I think the benefit of that program is,” Patino said.