Andrés Consoli, Associate Professor at UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School, will give the free talk “Facilitative factors in mental health care access and utilization by Latin@s: Learning from our clients” on Tuesday, April 14 at 12 noon in the Don Gevirtz Boardroom ED 4108, 4th Floor, Education Building. The event is sponsored by the Gevirtz School’s CORE (Conversations on Research in Education) Lunch Series. All members of the UCSB community are invited to attend; please bring your lunch – light refreshments will be served. Please RSVP to Carla Whitacre by Monday, April 13 if you plan on attending: cwhitacre@education.ucsb.edu.
Dr. Andrés Consoli’s research focuses on issues of equity in mental health services, especially for Latin@s. As the president of the National Latina/o Psychological Association, Dr. Consoli’s goal is to advance psychological education and training, scientific practice and organizational change to enhance the overall well-being of Hispanic and Latina/o populations. This presentation will address facilitative factors in accessing and utilizing mental health services for Latin@s.
While there has been ample documentation of the barriers in accessing care and widespread underutilization of mental health services by Latin@s, a growing literature is focusing on instances of realized care and successful outcomes. Dr. Consoli will describe the bridging of stigma by Latin@s and highlight culturally congruent dimensions such as confianza (trust). He will also provide a metaphor that frames successful experiences, caldeamiento (approx., warming), a process that fosters access and utilization.
Andrés J. Consoli is associate professor in the Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology. Born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Dr. Consoli received a licenciatura degree in clinical psychology at the Universidad de Belgrano, a Masters and doctorate in counseling psychology at UCSB, and postdoctoral training in behavioral medicine in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. Prior to joining UCSB Andrés was professor and associate chair of the Department of Counseling, College of Health and Social Sciences, at San Francisco State University. He is a visiting professor at the Universidad del Valle in Guatemala and a licensed psychologist in California. Dr. Consoli’s professional and research interests involve transnational collaborations, multicultural supervision, psychotherapy integration and training, systematic treatment selection, values in psychotherapy, access and utilization of mental health services within a social justice framework, and the development of a bilingual mental health workforce.