Since the COVID-19 pandemic, suicidal ideation has tripled among Latino youth in Georgia with children as young as 8 years old attempting suicide, according to social services nonprofit agency Ser Familia.
Compounding the issue, Spanish-speaking mental health counselors in Atlanta are sparse. Atlanta has 9 bilingual youth counselors, and none of the area safehouses consistently provide services in Spanish.
The disparity is so tremendous, Ser Familia is recruiting Spanish-speaking clinicians from Puerto Rico, said Executive Director Belisa Urbina.
“We have less than 100 mental health clinicians that can speak Spanish. That includes psychiatrists, psychologists, licensed professional counselors, licensed clinical social workers. The disparity is absolutely incredible,” said Urbina.
A nonprofit organization with five metro Atlanta offices, Ser Familia focuses on behavioral and mental health in the Latino community.
One million Latinos live in Georgia. With one of the fastest-growing Latino populations in the nation, the state ranks among the worst for access to mental health care.
One in five Latino children will attempt suicide, Ser Familia found.
“Before the pandemic, we were seeing between 20-25% of the kids that we serve presenting active suicidal ideation, which matches CDC research,” said Urbina. “We have seen those numbers increase to 60-62%.”
In Georgia, Latino teens had the highest rates of response on all measures of depression and suicide.
“At the beginning of the pandemic, we said that we were going to see many kids leaving the school systems, a tremendous number of children who were going to be sexually abused and a lot of cases of domestic violence. Sadly, we have been proven right,” said Urbina.
The pandemic exacerbated their struggles with emotional issues, increased loneliness and anxiety. In turn, Ser Familia clients’ school, work and family life are being affected.
“We want them to be thriving again,” she said.
Ser Familia is advocating for mental health laws, working with state lawmakers on subcommittees to make it easier to obtain a social work license and creating partnerships with universities within and outside of Georgia.
“We are working on many fronts to try to alleviate a crisis that has many aspects to it,” Urbina said.