Posted: Friday, July 17, 2015
On Wednesday mornings, Manager Luisa Abreu meets with her team of clinicians, case managers, nurses and substance use counselors. While this time is formally delineated as a “Team Meeting” on their calendars, the discussion has the fluidity of a conversation among close friends.
“Family is an important part of Latino culture and I think it shows with our team; the staff really looks out for one another,” Luisa said.
This sentiment is plain to see during the Wednesday meeting: a team member realizes a scheduling conflict with one client will may prevent her from driving another to a doctor’s appointment. The team’s response seems almost visceral; three of her coworkers immediately scroll through their calendars to see if they can cover. A resolution is found before the problem is actualized.
The Latino Team is one of several Providence Center Community Support (CSP) Teams. These teams work with clients living with severe and persistent mental illness to develop and implement a recovery-focused plan of care based on their strengths and goals.
Abreu’s team is unique in that is the only one of its kind to employ an entirely bilingual staff. The nature of the Latino Team allows it to meet the mental health needs of Rhode Island’s rapidly growing Hispanic population – the largest minority group in the state.
Evelyn Encinas, a nurse on the Latino Team, explained the importance of bilingual services, especially as it relates to mental health.
“Imagine if you are struggling with something highly personal like depression or anxiety, but the only way you can talk to a therapist about it is through another person,” Evelyn said. “It’s uncomfortable.”
Because of this, The Providence Center places tremendous value on hiring clinicians with the ability to transcend Rhode Island’s most prevalent language barrier.
"There aren’t many treatment options for Spanish speaking people in the state," Luisa said. "So we offer a wide range of services to meet all of our clients’ needs.”
The effectiveness of the team’s holistic approach is dependent on its cohesiveness - case managers, nurses, substance use specialists and doctors work together to provide clients with customized, “wrap-around” care.
As a nurse, Evelyn is in constant discussion with her team members and manager.
“The clients are the responsibility of the team, not just individual case managers or nurses.” she said. “If I find that someone needs to lose weight, I can talk about diet changes with the client and their case manager. So when they are at the grocery store, the case manager can say, ‘Remember, Evelyn said that you need to eat more vegetables.’”
Experience has taught Evelyn that it is important to make the client feel comfortable before trying to create behavioral change. “In order to get results, we first need to build trust. When I meet with a client, I don’t just tell them what they need to do to improve their health, but why. Once they understand the “why” they tend to be much more adherent.”
Trust is important to the success of both Latino Team clients and clinicians.
“It’s a cultural thing; we’re very open and honest with each other." Evelyn said. "We really are like a family here.”