El Arte de Sentirse Bien, "The Art of Feeling Well", Draws Latino Community
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| Dr. Hector Torres, Lawrence Cohen, father Claudio Diaz, Father Robert Oldershaw, Marilyn Cohen |
El Arte de Sentirse Bien, "the Art of Feeling Well," was the theme of the second annual Mental Health Issues in the Latino Community Conference hosted by the Naomi Ruth Cohen Charitable Institute and co-sponsored by The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. Held at the St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Church in Evanston, Ill., the October 26 event featured discussion on a gamut of issues centered on Latino mental health including immigration issues, trauma and psychological pain, teen pregnancy, and school drop-out rates.
Moderating the program, delivered in Spanish, was Dr. Hector Torres, coordinator of the school's new Center for Latino Mental Health. He was joined on the panel by
- Dr. Hal Fuentes of the Ruth M. Rothstein Core Center at John Stroger Hospital
- Dr. Fabricio Balcazar from the University of Illinois at Chicago
- Marna Diannethe Tovar of the Community Counseling Centers of Chicago
- Father Claudio Diaz, director of Hispanic Ministry for the Archdiocese of Chicago
- Robert Oldershaw of St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Church
Dr. Fuentes addressed immigration issues in the community. He described that, for some people, the fear of being undocumented can cause severe anxiety and depression. He also highlighted the importance of prevention, for which is necessary to learn how to detect anxiety and depression in ourselves and in family members.
Dr. Balcazar addressed high drop-out rates in schools by young Latinos. He also reflected on how gangs, deportation, bad influences for youth, teen pregnancy, as well as lack of knowledge about learning disabilities, increase the likelihood for young Latinos to drop-off school. Dr. Balcazar encouraged attendees to demand better academic programs, extracurricular activities, employment programs for youths, and tutoring for kids who need extra help.
Marna Tovar discussed sexual abuse prevention. She talked about the trauma and how this experience can greatly affects the person's physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental growing. Tovar also mentioned other types of trauma, such as the one caused by domestic violence, war, and/or natural disasters. She emphasized that anyone can be expose to be sexually abuse, as it does not discriminate age, gender, socioeconomic level, skin color, country of origin, etc.
A group discussion followed the panel. One of the audience members to speak was Eulalio Gomez, a parishioner from St Nicholas. "It is great what the Naomi Ruth Cohen Institute and The Chicago School are doing to help our community," he said. "We need more events like this."