Mental Health of Young Latinos Need More Attention

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Being part of a minority has its own challenges, and for Latino youth and communities, discrimination and racism is still an issue that continues to be a problem to this day. NBC News reported last month that even healthy food options and play spaces are less accessible to Latino children, contributing to higher obesity rates among these kids.

Another study showed that bullying affects students' academics, especially for high achieving African American and Latino children, as per Eurekalert.

"We find that bullying has implications for achievement regardless of racial and ethnic background, but seems to be especially detrimental for subsets of certain racial and ethnic groups," Lisa M. Williams, a doctoral student in sociology at Ohio State University, explained. "Stereotypes about black and Latino youth suggest that they perform poorly in school. High achieving blacks and Latinos who do not conform to these stereotypes may be especially vulnerable to the effect bullying has on grades."

Bullying has long been tied to depression, mental illnesses, and bouts with suicidal thoughts. Being in the minority makes it even worse. That's why one Latina made a stand and created a campaign to help raise awareness on mental health among Latin communities.

NBC News reports that New York City native Dior Vargas created the People of Color and Mental Illness Photo Project, which aims to raise awareness to the "invisibility of people of color in media representations of mental illness."

At 28 years old, Dior is a crisis counselor for CrisisTextLine, a co-facilitator for NAMI NYC Metro's Young Adult Support Group and was listed as one of the 15 Remarkable Women of Color Who Rocked 2015 in Colorlines. He admitted that her passion for mental health issues awareness began in high school, when she realized that minorities were not talking about important issues that should be discussed.

"A lot of Latinos want their children to live a better life than they had, but what does that look like? Not in terms of just money, kids, career or a home - you can't have that good life without mental health," Vargas explained. "You want to be able to look back at life and say, 'I did everything I could for my mental health, I took care of myself.' I just know so many people, so many families suffering, carrying pain and they think that's normal. But it's not OK - I don't know anyone that wants that for themselves or their kids."

Dr. Luis Vargas, child psychologist and treasurer of the National Latino Behavioral Health Association agrees that there should be an improvement in the area of assessment and treatment of Latinos who are suffering from any mental health issues. He told Latin Post that there should be not only more accessible clinics and health services, but also awareness and education in the issue, as a combined solution for better health care.