May 25 SAMHSA Behavioral Health Disparities, Diverse Treatment Approaches Webinar

Supported by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

Disparities in behavioral health care leave damaging impacts on underserved populations across the nation. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

(HHS) has launched several initiatives to help address challenges presented by gaps in behavioral healthcare access and delivery and eliminate barriers to quality behavioral health care provided to underserved populations. This Webinar will highlight key initiatives

that promote overall behavioral health equity and provide an overview of specific behavioral health approaches to working with Latinos/Latinas and other populations. 

Latinos are the fastest growing population in the United States, having reached 55 million people in 2014. That is a growth rate of 53 percent since 2000,

compared with just 12 percent for the overall population. Research has found that Latinos have a greater need than other populations for mental health and substance use disorder services. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s 2013 “National

Healthcare Disparities Report,” fewer than 55 percent of Latino adults-and only 30 percent of adolescents-with a major depressive episode in the previous year receive treatment for depression, the lowest turnout rate among ethnic and racial groups. According

to the National Association for Mental Illness, there are as few as 29 Latino mental health professionals for every 100,000 Latinos. 

Teresa Chapa, Ph.D., MPA, Executive Dean at the California School of

Professional Psychology, Alliant International University, oversees all psychology programs at six California-based campuses. She will provide an overview of efforts to reduce health disparities and the benefits of using a culturally and linguistically centered,

integrated healthcare approach. Dr. Chapa had a distinguished career in public service, most recently in the HHS Office of Minority Health, where she established and led the behavioral health section and integrated behavioral health care in her position as

senior policy advisor for mental health. She has published numerous peer-reviewed journal articles and scholarly reports on behavioral health disparities.

Vincent Guilamo-Ramos, Ph.D., MSW, MPH, Director of the Center for

Latino Adolescent and Family Health at New York University Silver School of Social Work, will present on the challenges of reducing behavioral health disparities among Latinos. Dr. Guilamo-Ramos, a former Council on Social Work Education MFP Fellow, is Professor

and Director of the Ph.D. program at the Silver School. He has done extensive work and research with Latino adolescents and families in New York City, received numerous federal grants, and published extensively in peer-reviewed journals. He was recently selected

as a Presidential Leadership Scholar.

Charles E. Lewis Jr., Ph.D., MSW, of the Development Services Group, Inc.’s MFP Coordinating Center

will moderate the Webinar.