Help available as cultures shift

I want to thank The Herald for its excellent series about mental health issues among our county’s Hispanic community. The articles point out something really important and often missed by those outside of other cultures; and that is that many people, including those actually providing mental health services, are often unaware of the cultural differences that often keep those in those cultures needing help, from disclosing their needs, even to (or perhaps especially) their own families.

This series should be both an eye opener to the uninformed, but more importantly throw some light on the subject, perhaps enough so that those in their respective cultures will see and be convinced that their loved ones need help, not shunning or shaming, and that there is help out there if one is willing to look for it.

Also be advised that there are now at least some educational and informative written materials (often on the Web) in languages other than English; certainly there are more and more materials written in Spanish now available — and we have some of these in our NAMI Snohomish County office and could likely point people in the right directions for more help/advice, if they are interested. Call us at our office number: (425)339-3620 and leave a message if we’re not there to answer your call.

Jim Bloss

President