LA Department of Mental Health — Maroon Society

LA Department of Mental Health
Latinos are at a heightened risk for depression, anxiety and substance abuse.  To mitigate these threats, health promoters or promotores de salud have emerged to provide mental health education and linkages to mental health care providers.  The Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health wanted to know how effective mental health promoter programs are at combatting mental health related stigma and encouraging helping seeking behavior.  Maroon Society developed an experimental design to measure program efficacy.  Our findings demonstrated that health promoter programs help people recognize signs of mental illness, encourage them to seek mental health services, and reduce stigmatizing beliefs about mental illness.  The Department of Mental Health relied on our report to qualify their health promoter model as an evidenced based practice in the state of California.  This determination by the State is essential to expanding program funding.. 

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