Mental-Health Care Limited for Immigrants

[deadparrot]

DE QUEEN, Ark. - If Eleazar Paula Mendez suffered from depression, her adopted hometown in southwest Arkansas was not the place to find help: The small community where she is charged with killing her three children has no mental-health professionals who speak Spanish.

Mendez, who told police she was distraught because her husband wanted a divorce, sought spiritual counseling from her priest, but he also did not know where she could get psychological help.

"Her English is very limited," the Rev. Salvador Marquez-Munoz said. "And who am I going to refer her to around here?"

Arkansas had the second-fastest growing Hispanic population in the 1990s, according to Census figures, but many communities have limited social services catering to them.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060206/ap_on_he_me/children_slain_depression

[Leilani]

1. She has lived in the U.S. for 11 years

& hasn't learned enough English to communicate?

[Jersey Ginny]

2. That is true but also there is a lack of spanish-speaking MH

and Substance Abuse services even in places like Hudson County NJ. I am trying to locate outpatient substance abuse treatment facilities in densely populated Union City NJ (probably 80% or more spanish speaking) and I am not finding services! Yes, I agree that people ought to learn the primary language of their new country. I would if I moved somewhere. But it is not an either/or. In fact, even if she knew English well, getting mental health care in your first language is really best b/c you can articulate yourself more clearly and subtly in your first language.

[LostinVA]

3. Some people have a very, very hard tim,e learning another language

Especially if they are relatively uneducated, and are kept rather isolated due to socio-economic reasons. I can't fault her for this.

I have a Japanese friend who has lived here for 10 years, speaks excellent idiomatic English with a slight accent. Then, I have a Chinese friend. She's lived here 18 years, very strong accent, and her English is much worse. But both are very educated and have many American friends. It just depends.

[Rose Siding]

4. Mental health care/health care in general is limited for all lower classes