Community Outreach and Education
Aliento is committed to maintaining an open dialogue and connection between the community and mental health professionals serving the community.
Aliento's community outreach and education components are targeted to mutually serve both community members and mental health professionals.
The Latinx community is the fastest growing and largest ethnoculturally diverse group in the United States. One of the Center's goals is to focus on the strengths inherent in the Latinx community that are often translated into or misinterpreted as deficits. We believe that empowerment of individuals and communities begins with the inclusion of community members in the development of education, training and research philosophies. Our Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) model focuses on active dialogue and participation with Latinx community members. The Center integrates a community service and outreach component to directly address the needs of the surrounding Latinx communities. Our outreach efforts include working with local church communities and other entities to provide preventative educational programs to the community. Programs on parenting skills, relationships, and stress management are among the topics included in our outreach efforts.
Additionally, the Center is committed to empowering professionals in the community through educational workshops, consultation and through the dissemination of innovative research and practice methodologies. Through collaboration with several local, national and international Latinx-serving entities, the Latinx Center's connection with professionals increases our effectiveness in bridging the gap individually and systemically.
The elucidation and celebration of common, culturally-consistent values is a focus of the Center. Aliento's primary aim is to give voice to the Latinx community's strengths and values. Through outreach and educational programs, Aliento hopes to empower both the Latinx community and the professionals serving the community. Our outreach efforts are intended to provide the community with support and to destigmatize mental illness and mental health services within the community.