Self-Directed Course
We are thrilled to announce our very first Self-Directed Course:
Building Culturally Responsive Practices
in Latine Mental Health
Program Description
One of the goals of El Futuro’s Mental Health Network, La Mesita, is to provide up-to-date, relevant, and culturally responsive training on Latine mental health. As such, we have created a self-directed course that provides an overview of Latine culture as well as evidence-based models of care for working with individuals and families.
This course is intended for both professionals in the field and graduate students interested in pursuing work with the Latine community. The course’s purpose is to provide context, the latest evidence-based theories, and practical tools to enhance service with Latine individuals and families. For students, this course builds on the ongoing graduate coursework by providing a focus on culturally responsive practices with Latines that is not often covered by traditional programmatic curricula. For providers and agencies, this course offers a professional development opportunity to build on the great work already being done by incorporating evidence-based tools that will further enhance services for the Latine community.
A certificate of completion for 10.5 hours of activities will be sent upon completion of this course.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this self-directed course, participants will be able to:
- Identify cultural values that impact Latine individuals and families and how to incorporate these values into treatment
- Reflect about how culture and intersectionality impact individuals and families, as well as developing ways to approach the issue of culture from a culturally humble stance
- Enhance their strategies for assessment and development of hypothesis, using tools to work collaboratively with clients in the delineation of treatment goals
- Explain how to apply different culturally and racially responsive models in a nuanced manner
- Develop awareness of how a clinician’s own cultural identity and biases impacts their work with Latine individuals
About the Presenters:
Juan Prandoni, Ph.D. is La Mesita’s Training Director. He received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2019. His research and clinical focus involves how Latine cultural values impact engagement and treatment outcomes in therapy as well as community outreach efforts aimed at reducing current treatment utilization gaps among Latine communities.
Neftali Serrano, PsyD is the Executive Director of the Collaborative Family Healthcare Association, a national organization dedicated to promoting integrated care as the standard of care. He has devoted the majority of his career to working with federally qualified health centers (FQHC), starting integrated care programs and consulting with clinics in underserved settings to assist with implementation of primary care behavioral health (PCBH) programs.
Gabriela Nagy, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University School of Medicine and in the Duke University School of Nursing. Her role is comprised of research, education, and clinical duties. Dr. Nagy received a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee prior to moving to Duke wherein she completed her pre-doctoral internship and post-doctoral training.
Gabriela Stein, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist and Professor of Clinical Psychology within the Department of Psychology at UNCG. She also holds a faculty position with the Center for Developmental Science at UNC Chapel Hill. Dr. Stein received her doctoral degree in clinical psychology with a specialization in child and family psychology from UNC Chapel Hill.
Registration Information
You can register for our self-directed course here.
Course Launch Discount Price: $99
Regular Cost: $145
Please contact us at lamesita@elfuturo-nc.org if you have a question, concern, or complaint you’d like to share regarding this course. You will receive a response with the teams’ considerations and decision within two weeks time.
If you would like to cancel your purchase, you may request a refund within 24 hours of purchasing this course.
Continuing Education
At the completion of the Self-Directed Course, certificates of completion for 10.5 NBCC clock hours will be provided to those who complete the evaluation and pass the assessment. No partial credit offered.
El Futuro has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 6947. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. El Futuro is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
“Top-notch, comprehensive, clinically dynamic content and trainings designed to foster enhanced knowledge and skills to support Latine mental health in a supportive and nurturing learning community.”
“It is one of the best investments of time and energy to improve clinical practice and/or [your] role as clinical supervisor of therapists working with Latine clients.”
Accommodations
Please contact lamesita@elfuturo-nc.org to let us know if you need accommodations to access this course. We will work to the best of our abilities to fulfill all accommodation requests.
Concern Response and Grievance Policy
We have carefully modeled the environment around our learning activities to be one characterized by mutual collegiality, kindness, and a commitment to constant learning. This environment allows for providers of all disciplines, regardless of their level of experience, to feel comfortable in taking part in and benefiting from our programming. It is our hope that all La Mesita members will join us in preserving this environment we have cultivated over the years through your participation across our programming.
You can request our full grievance policy or submit a concern by reaching out to us at lamesita@elfuturo-nc.org.
Alvely Alcántara, LCSW
Rossy C. Garcia, MEd 
Katy Sims, MD 
Everardo Aviles, LCSW, LCAS (Eve)
As a medical anthropologist and social work researcher, Dr. Gulbas’ research embodies interdisciplinarity through the integration of applied theories of health and human development with qualitative and ethnographic methodologies. Her work seeks to understand how people—children, families, and providers—navigate complex sociocultural landscapes in the pursuit of mental health. Most of her work, to date, focuses attention on developing more robust interpretations of suicide risk. With funding from the National Institutes of Mental Health, this body of research has contributed to advancements in theoretical and empirical knowledge of the broader contexts within which youth suicide risk is situated. 
R. Gabriela Barajas-Gonzalez is a developmental psychologist and an assistant professor of Population Health at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. Dr. Barajas-Gonzalez is the principal investigator of a study that examines the impact of immigration-related threat and stress on school communities. She earned a PhD in developmental psychology from Columbia University and hold a BA in human biology from Stanford University. Dr. Barajas-Gonzalez is the daughter of Mexican immigrants and a first gen college student.
Dr. Parra-Cardona is an Associate Professor in the Steve Hicks School of Social Work (SHSSW) at the University of Texas at Austin. At the SHSSW, he serves as Coordinator for Mexico and Latin American initiatives. He also serves as Area Director for Research at the UT Austin Latino Research Institute. Dr. Parra-Cardona’s program of research is focused on the cultural adaptation of evidence-based parenting interventions for low-income Latinx populations in the US and Latin America.
Bianka Reese, PhD, MSPH is a research scientist and program evaluator specializing in adolescent and young adult sexual and reproductive health. Her previous research in the experiences of Latinx LGBTQ+ youth stems from her work as the Research and Evaluation Manager at SHIFT NC (Sexual Initiatives For Teens), where she led largescale evaluations of multilevel, community-based sexual health promotion initiatives and research projects aimed at elevating the voices of diverse youth in North Carolina. Dr. Reese is currently the Senior Research Strategist at Creative Research Solutions, LLC, an award-winning national evaluation, research, and assessment firm.
Tania Connaughton-Espino, MPH is an independent researcher focused on adolescent and young adult sexual and reproductive health. Her interest in the experiences of Latinx LGBTQ+ youth stems from her previous work with SHIFT NC (Sexual Initiatives For Teens), where she led the training and evaluation department, conducted capacity-building workshops for youth serving professionals including on the topic of how to be more affirming of LGBTQ youth, and from her extensive experience working with the Latinx population in NC.
Maru Gonzalez, EdD is an Assistant Professor and Youth Development Specialist in the Department of Agricultural and Human Sciences at North Carolina State University. Her areas of inquiry include youth development with a focus on activism, social justice, and the experiences of LGBTQ+ young people across familial, school, and community contexts. 
Nayeli Y. Chavez-Dueñas, PhD
Hector Y. Adames, PsyD