Responding to the Mental Health Needs of Underserved Latin Americans

Abstract

Latin Americans experience an especially large gap between their mental health needs and treatment availability. Access to treatment is limited by attitudes and stigma, the lack of substantial treatment infrastructures, and shortages of mental health professionals. The treatments that underserved populations do obtain are often informed by models imported from North America and Europe, without sufficient cultural adaptation. This chapter describes the work that Fundación Aiglé is doing to address this treatment gap. This includes its graduate training programs and supervision networks that extend regionally, beyond Argentina; its publications; and its treatment model, the integrative model of psychotherapy. The chapter also describes Aiglé’s Therapeutic Assistance Program for People with Limited Resources (PATER) as one approach to providing treatment to underserved populations. The work that Aiglé is doing provides a model for other nongovernmental agencies to adapt to their own circumstances.