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Title V HSI “Lanzamiento” Initiative
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Background
In Fall 2020 SPS began work on the creation of our mental health plan. We determined that funding would pay for a .25FTE bilingual, bicultural therapist who would provide individual therapy and outreach workshops to the Latin Community as SRJC. We began recruitment with advertisements in both general mental health organizations as well as specific Latinx groups in our county. We received three applications and created in late 2020 a search committee composed of the Manager for SPS, the Coordinator of the Dream Center, our Health Promotion Specialist, and a Latinx SRJC student. The interview process led to the selection of an individual for this position. We set a start date for January 2021, but unfortunately as we approached that date this individual’s other work responsibilities changed so that they withdrew from the process.
At that time we restarted the recruitment process and found another individual for the position, Brijida Aleman. Ms. Aleman already was working at SRJC in our Disability Resources Department full-time, but we were able to arrange release time for her to work 10 hours a week to do therapy/outreach in this position. She has master’s degrees in Marriage and Family Therapy, as well as Professional Clinical Counseling, and she is currently working on hours towards licensure.
Implementation 
In March 2021 Ms. Aleman official began work in this position. We advertised her services to the college community overall as well as targeted advertisement to the SRJC Latinx Community. She met with various student, staff, and faculty groups, including those specific to the Latinx population. Through September 10, 2021 she has met with 15 students for a total of 116 therapy sessions, mostly conducted in Spanish. In addition, she has provided 6 classroom presentations, met with 7 student organizations, met with 7 departments/organizations specific to the SRJC Latin community, and staffed and spoke at 7 large events.
Next Steps
With the limited number of hours we have looked to refer Latinx students to other therapists at SRJC. This year we were successful in recruiting a Latinx trainee as part of our annual trainee group, and this other therapist has now seen some additional Latinx community clients. Another internal referral source is a bicultural therapist who has availability as demand continues to exceed Ms. Aleman’s schedule.
This HSI grant will further the diversity work of Student Psychological Services and Student Health Services. Already, Ms. Aleman identified documents for Spanish translation (and translated them herself!). We have implemented and we will be expanding services as well to other marginalized populations. New hires have and will bring diversity to staff that will help with internal diversity training, assist our department in examination of best practices, and increase liaison work with community partners.
Looking forward, we anticipate the ability to expand this position through the use of funds from a county ballot measure that will provide the college mental health funding. Specifically, our plan is to bring the Latinx therapist to a full 1.0 FTE, greatly increasing capacity and capability to do more. We expect this to be implemented in early 2022.