We're committed to resolving disparities among minority access to psychological services by training professionals who employ innovative and effective practices. In doing so, we hope to improve mental health providers’ abilities to provide culturally appropriate services to Spanish-speaking clients.
Despite making up 17% of the population, Latinx individuals are only 60% as likely to pursue mental health services as whites. Colorado is in the top ten states in the US for Latinx population, but only a very small number of practitioners are Latinx or able to offer specialized care for Latinx individuals. With these factors in mind, we train students to provide bilingual and culturally competent services using evidence-based practices and firsthand experience.
The Latinx Psychology Specialty at GSPP is a four-course sequence that provides professional psychology trainees with the clinical and theoretical knowledge, research foundations and Spanish language capacities necessary to provide mental health services to the diverse Latinx population in the US.
Coursework includes:
Introduction to Latinx Psychology and the Latinx Experience
Therapy and Psychological Interventions with Latinx Populations
Latinx Psychology Practicum
Spanish Clinical Language Lab: Reinforcing the Therapeutic Alliance with Latinx Clients
Many of GSPP’s field placements serve the Latinx population and Spanish providers are utilized. As a student participating in the Latinx Psychology Specialty, you will choose field placements that offer you opportunities to deliver services to this population for at least 25% of your cases.
Current site placements include:
Servicios de la Raza
Salud Family Health Center
Aurora Mental Health Center
Denver County Jail
Colorado Children’s Hospital
Denver Health Medical Center
Denver Public Schools
Children’s Advocacy Center
Mental Health Center of Denver
"In 2015, we established an international exchange program with the Universidad del Desarrollo (UDD) in Chile. Since then, students have traveled to Chile for two to three weeks each winter, where they work alongside mental health professionals in the community and gained a firsthand understanding of the mental health care systems to which our clients are accustomed."