Welcome NLPA’s new Membership Chair, Alexina Pilo!

Psychiatry Online published a study on the “Downward National Trends in Mental Health Treatment Offered in Spanish: State Differences by Proportion of Hispanic Residents”. 

The objective of the study was to “determine how the prevalence of mental health treatment facilities that offer services in Spanish has changed over time in the United States.” 

 NLPA Member Highlight - Dr. Rachel Ocampo, Clinical Assistant Professor, CISA - School of Counseling and Counseling Psychology

NLPA welcomes Sandra Gomez as our new student member elect! 

The Elect Student Representative will coordinate with the Membership Committee to recruit and retain new student members, assist Current Student Representative on conference preparation and maintain communication with other NLPA communities (e.g., SIGS, and subcommittees) especially when they have student involvement.

On September 26, 2023 – NLPA and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) launched a new partnership to focus on improving the health and wellbeing of the Latinx community in the United States. 

This strategic partnership enables NLPA and HHS to work together more closely to facilitate information exchange and outreach, education, and research training opportunities. Together, we hope to more effectively take action to help enhance and increase care of Latinxs.

On January 9, 2021, NLPA contracted with Obsidian Consulting to conduct a self study
consultation with a three-fold purpose: I. Identifying strengths of the NLPA; II. Developing an
Implementation program that would outline steps and actions that NLPA can engage in moving
forward to explicitly address anti-Black racism in the organization; III. Providing an expanded
Organizational evaluation which involves examining past and current practices that have
attempted to combat anti-Black racism in the organization as well as those actions that may have
contributed to ongoing anti-Black racism.

Read the full report HERE.

NLPA recently endorsed a letter supporting legislation that would designate the Los Angeles U.S. Courthouse to be named after Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez – advocates that helped end segregation in California schools and paved the way for Brown v. Board of Education.

Read the letter HERE.

NLPA recently endorsed an advocacy letter crafted by the American Psychological Association focused on creating changes to existing non-lawful permanent resident (non-LPR) cancellation of removal rules.

Read the letter HERE. 

The National Latinx Psychological Association (NLPA) is pleased to invite you to a guest lecture by Dr. D-L Stewart about Resisting Institutional Overreach: Understanding the SCOTUS Decisions on Affirmative Action on November 7, 2023, from 9am-10am MST. 

Dr. D-L Stewart joined the University of Denver in 2021 after 20 years of teaching, research, and service in colleges and universities focused on U.S. postsecondary education. His scholarship focuses on the philosophy and history of higher education, institutional transformation toward realizing equity and justice, and how higher education environments function within society and as a crucible for the learning and development of minoritized student, staff, and faculty populations. He received his B.A. from Kalamazoo College in Sociology & Anthropology and his M.A. and Ph.D. from The Ohio State University in Higher Education and Student Affairs and Educational Administration and Higher Education, respectively.

Hola NLPA familia,

I hope this message finds each of you doing well! I am looking forward to seeing many of you at our conferencia this October in Chicago!

NLPA member Dr. Cristalis Capielo Rosario recently gave testimony to the United Nations about the mental health impacts of colonization in Puerto Rico. Dr. Capielo Rosario’s argument for the psychological ramifications of Puerto Rican colonization included discussion of internalized narratives, perceived inferiority, and threats of depression and anxiety.

Dr. Capielo Rosario’s research indicated that self-determination could change the mental health aspect for Puerto Ricans by empowering the community and improving the population’s overall self-esteem. “I recently conducted a study in which I asked participants to imagine what would happy if the association between the U.S. and Puerto Rico ceased. The primary response was chaos. ‘We won’t be able to survive.’ ‘We’re going to die of hunger,’” Dr. Capielo Rosario explained in an Arizona State University interview, “But when asked in that same study how they would describe themselves and other Puerto Ricans, they said ‘we’re hardworking, we’re creative and we have a lot of assets.’ But it does not translate into the idea of self-determination. That’s a psychological phenomenon. We certainly have the economic and social resources to make it happen.”

NLPA welcomes Dra. Julia Roncoroni as our inaugural Chief Diversity Officer. Dr. Roncoroni will lead NLPA’s efforts to ensure the organization remains responsive to the diversity of our Latine identities and experiences.