"Thank You for Treating Us Like Humans": Mental Health and Wellness Latinx Youth Participatory Action Research

• In Event: The Necessity and Possibilities of Latinx Youth-Focused Participatory Action Research

Abstract

Objective/Purpose
There are four primary objectives. First, the authors argue that wellness is relational as it is constituted between the individual and society. Second, we bring to attention the extremely troubling conditions Latinx youth face with respect to mental health. Third, we demonstrate how the research collaborative functions as a form of PAR EntreMundos (Ayala et al., In press; Torre & Ayala, 2009) curriculum, which is an interdisciplinary form of collaborative research that is rooted in southern hemispheric thought, focused on community based needs and assets, and aims at the production of knowledge and skills needed to work toward collective liberation from oppression. Finally we make a case for PAR as a space to supporting youth mental health and wellness, and dismantling structures that threaten their overall wellbeing.

Perspective
We understand mental health and wellness from an ecological-feminist-Latinx perspective that treats wellness as both individual and collective processes, and centers on historical and current Latinx experiences. While much of the mental health arena has focused on changing individual behavior through various therapies, what is missing is a recognition that individual well-being needs are inextricably tied to the society. As such, therapeutic practices place the onus of well-being on the individual while neglecting the variety needs of factors and conditions that shape the community, neighborhoods, or city. In our case, we look at both Latinx youth individually and as a group situated in unequal society.

Data
The data was gathered over a two year period. Field notes, activities (mostly writing), artwork, and some personal communications, were analyzed using a coding scheme and then thematically categorized (Delamont, 2012; Merriam, 2009; Saldaña, 2013).

Results
We argue that project youth experienced trauma by violence, and the institutional silencing of their needs and their identities. The authors argue that PAR creates a space for humanization, action and provides an opportunity for people to make change. It is often overlooked that by engaging in this action people are also expanding their own capacity to improve their individual and collective mental health and well-being by learning and addressing the larger sociopolitical issues that are creating trauma in the individual and in the collective community.

Significance
The marginalization of Latinx youth occurs in various ways and across sectors, including mental health and wellness issues. While U.S. children, generally, underutilize mental health services in the U.S., the disparities in access and utilization of services are greater amongst Latinx children (Lopez, Bergren, & Painter, 2008). Clearly, mental health and wellness challenges that Latinx youth face should be an area of great concern. This situation requires that research, wellness services, and policy drastically improve the way we critically understand and address mental health and wellness in Latinx communities. The authors argue that Latinx youth-focused PAR is one approach that can make a critical contribution addressing this issue.

Authors

• Edwin Mayorga, Swarthmore College

• Alondra Rosales, School District of Philadelphia