IMPLEMENTATION AND EVALUATION OF THE COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAM FACILITADORES COMUNITARIOS

In this article, we describe the development, implementation, and evaluation outcomes of the community mental health program Facilitadores Comunitarios (Community Facilitators). This ongoing community-based program intends to enable Latinx community members to utilize their skills, knowledge, cultural capital and networks to facilitate access to mental health and community resources for members of the Latinx community. The program curriculum intends to increase participants' awareness of community mental health issues and help develop their initiatives as social agents to support the Latinx community. This innovative program aims to contribute to the limited mental health interventions focused on the psychological strengths of Latinx immigrant communities with an ongoing and sustainable model. The program's theoretical framework and methodology is informed by community Latinx psychology and CBPR (Community Based Participatory Research) model. In this article, we describe (1) program development, (2) implementation, and (3) results from the first cohort. Program outcomes, implications, and future directions are also discussed.