The National Latinx Psychological Association (NLPA) has presented Ana Romero, a doctoral student at UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School, with its inaugural student award from the Undocumented Immigrant Collaborative. Romero, who received the award at the NLPA national conference in Miami, Fla. in October, was given the award “for her contribution and commitment with the improvement of culturally relevant mental health services to undocumented and immigrant communities.”
The National Latinx Psychological Association is a national organization of mental health professionals, academics, researchers, and students whose objective is to generate and advance psychological knowledge and foster its effective application for the benefit of Latinxs. NLPA’s membership represents a rich diversity of national background, ethnicity, cultural origin, religious tradition, and political ideology. We work in a wide range of professional and academic settings.
The Undocumented Immigrant Collaborative—a special interest group of NLPA—aims to identify, support/collaborate, promote and develop strategies to help undocumented and immigrants, their families and providers. The purpose of this special interest group is closely related to the overall mission of NLPA. It is interested in connecting the existing research, training, and practice to improve the delivery of culturally-relevant mental health services to undocumented and immigrant communities. Moreover, the collaborative is interested in fostering a strong relationship through effective collaboration and communication among researchers, practitioners, organizations, communities, and institutions that are relevant to undocumented and immigrant communities.
Ana Romero is a doctoral student with an emphasis in Counseling Psychology under Dr. Andres Consoli in the Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology. She received her B.S. in Psychology from Santa Clara University in 2011 and a M.A. in Guidance and Counseling from Loyola Marymount University in 2014. Her current research interests include access and utilization of mental health services and mental health in the undocumented community. She is currently conducting research on how immigration status impacts the relationship between undocumented and U.S. citizen siblings.