Connecting Spanish-Speakers to Mental Health Providers Attuned to Their Culture

Persistent systemic and institutional barriers prevent most Spanish-speaking people from receiving the mental health care they need. Only 35% of Latino/a adults in the U.S. have a mental illness Get treatment, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Many are unable to seek help due to language barriers, lack of health insurance, poverty, and the stigma of mental illness within the Latino community. Few providersthere are other hurdles.

Luis Suarez, MBA, a 37-year-old entrepreneur from Mexico, faced his own obstacles in accessing mental health support. Shortly after he immigrated to the United States from Mexico, his life became a whirlwind. He earned a master’s degree in business administration from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business in just his third year, moved to Chicago to pursue a career in management consulting, and got married.

In 2020, as Suarez navigated the uncertainty of the pandemic, she thought counseling would help ease her stress, but when she tried to find someone to talk to, she hit a dead end. “I couldn’t find a provider who spoke my language, shared my background, and understood the situation of someone who grew up in a Latin American country,” he said.

Soon, Suarez’s search for personal counseling became a broader search for data and statistics about his community that confirmed the gaps he was already seeing. “This was a problem,” he said. “In the United States, only 5% of mental health providers speak Spanish, but 13% of the population speaks Spanish at home.”

His frustration then turned into a business idea. What if Suarez could build a platform that provided health resources to people like him?

Affordable emotional support and counseling

Result is, Sanaraiis a potential mental health service for Spanish-speaking clients that connects the Latino/a community with mental health professionals from Latin America and the United States to provide culturally sensitive emotional support and counseling in Spanish. Available at affordable prices.

“as [Latino/x] As a company, we recognize the importance of cultural competency in mental health and well-being,” said Suarez.

Linguistically and culturally appropriate care is essential to the provision of mental health services. Failure to interpret the patient’s words within the necessary cultural context often results in misunderstandings and misdiagnoses, which can result in the wrong treatment being prescribed. Even with a qualified interpreter, how patients describe their feelings and symptoms can get lost in translation.

Mr. Suarez founded the company in July 2020. At this time, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the mental health needs of the Latinx/X community and exposed deep racial and ethnic disparities in access to care. The prevalence of depression and anxiety among Latinos has increased significantly, and their suicide rate jumped 6.8% from 2018 to 2021.

With funding from the Google Fund for Latinx/X startups and investment from the California Healthcare Foundation’s Innovation Fund, Sanarai has more than 50 mental health professionals serving more than 4,000 individual customers. Developed a network of health professionals. The company also offers its mental health services to other entrepreneurs who are part of Google’s Latina Founders Fund, people like Suarez himself.

“The goal is to expand Spanish-language access to patients seeking mental health services in their native language,” and to help fund initiatives that promote health care access in underserved communities. said Vanessa Villaverde, MHSA, MPA, Innovation Fund’s Senior Program Investment Officer. community. These investments support initiatives that are too expensive for nonprofits to undertake, Villaverde said.

Two types of providers

Sanarai’s mental health and emotional support sessions are delivered by one of two types of providers: A professional or state-licensed professional based in Mexico and Argentina with a master’s degree in psychology, certified by Mexican health authorities, and at least five years of experience. A US clinician with at least five years of experience working as a clinical psychologist, social worker, or licensed professional counselor.

Villaverde said Spanish-speaking individuals should not be given a choice. “Even if you don’t speak the same language as the patient, you shouldn’t be forced to meet whoever happens to be available at that moment,” she says.

The list of available providers can cater to a wide range of specific needs and preferences, and the platform allows people to choose a provider based on specialty, gender, language, age, or primary area of ​​interest. No patient personal information is shared, no insurance is required, and her first 30-minute visit costs just $20. A 50-minute emotional support session costs $49 and is paid out-of-pocket. The site also includes a blog with emergency resources and educational content. Sanarai offers next-day availability, alleviating the burden of her two-week or longer waiting list, a common challenge faced by many Spanish speakers.

“Clients are attracted to it and love it,” said Rosalinda Arriola, a social worker at Centro Unido Latinoamericano, a community-based organization in North Carolina. “With someone who speaks their language and understands their culture,” she said. “They learned that there is hope and that they can live a happy life.”

Julio Fu, MBA, Sanalai’s chief operating officer, met Suarez in 2015. The two were roommates while attending business school. When Suarez first talked about the company he wanted to build, Fu, who is also from Mexico, understood. “The idea just clicked,” Fu said. “This was a great startup idea that would have an important impact on society.”

inspiring feedback

Mr. Fu joins Sanarai after working at Mercado Libre, McKinsey and Co., and Google. Although the company is still in its early stages, the pair are inspired by what they’ve heard from people who have used the service. “It’s very rewarding to get feedback from first-time users,” Suarez said.

“For the more than 42 million people in the United States who speak Spanish at home, we are a convenient and affordable online alternative to receiving mental health services,” Fu said. Also, for Latin American providers, the experience of working remotely with U.S. customers is attractive, especially since he Sanarai processes claims and helps with promotions.

The company views reimbursement from Medicaid agencies such as Medi-Cal and company-sponsored employee assistance programs as two long-term revenue paths to growth. But for now, Sanarai is focused on building its direct-to-consumer business. Strengthen your provider network. and explore opportunities with payers, health systems, and other care providers.

Because the limited size of the U.S. workforce makes it difficult to recruit more mental health providers, Sanalai may look to policy-based initiatives as an alternative solution. For example, a 2002 pilot program that allowed Mexico-based clinicians to work in California increased the supply of mental health providers who met the language and health needs of California patients, who currently account for about 20% of Sanalay patients. This could serve as a model for expanding the user.

Looking to the future, Suarez is optimistic that Sanalai has the potential to change the relationship between Latinx/X people and mental health.

“My hope is that mental health begins to be taken as seriously as physical health, that we raise awareness and break down the stigma, and that mental health becomes part of the everyday conversation, especially in the Latinx community. “,” Suarez said.