An article written by affiliates of the Yale Department of Psychiatry that outlines the history and success of the Connecticut Latino Behavioral Health System (LBHS) has been recognized as the 2017 Best Paper in Psychological Services by the Division 18 Psychologists in Public Service.
The paper, entitled “The Connecticut Latino Behavioral Health System: A Culturally Informed Community-Academic Collaboration,” was co-authored by Manuel Paris, Jr., PsyD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry; Michelle Silva, PsyD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry; Esperanza Diaz, MD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry; Luis Anez, PsyD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry; Luis Bedregal, PhD, Lecturer in Psychiatry; and Robert Cole, MHSA, Chief Operating Officer, Connecticut Mental Health Center.
Division 18 will present the award at its Business Meeting at the American Psychological Association Convention in Washington, D.C. in early August. The co-authors have been invited to attend.
LBHS, based at the Hispanic Clinic of the Connecticut Mental Health Center, “represents a culturally informed community-academic collaboration that includes agencies focused on mental health, addictions, behavioral health within community health centers, and social rehabilitation; the Yale Department of Psychiatry; and the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services,” according to the paper.
Its mission is to “expand and enhance the provision of recovery-oriented, and culturally and linguistically appropriate, services to the monolingual Spanish-speaking community in parts of South Central Connecticut,” the paper states.
The paper explains how the collaboration works to meet the needs of clients and to provide them with exceptional care. The program follows the model of the CMHC Hispanic Clinic, where monolingual Spanish speakers are cared for in Spanish, and clinical providers come from many different counties and cultures.
More information about LBHS can be found here.