Reaching Out
Increasing agency engagement and outreach
Why is community engagement and inclusion of diversity important?
Mission Statement
Taken directly from the Colorado Behavioral Health Equity Report (CBHER): Community engagement has been defined as: “the process of working collaboratively with and through groups of people affiliated by geographic proximity, special interest, or similar situations to address issues affecting the well-being of those people” (CTSA, 2011). Literature emphasizes that without support and feedback from the community, services and supports will be ineffective in meeting community needs and priorities (Virginia DBHDS).
"...The inability of providers to recognize influential cultural beliefs and traditions can lead to patient frustration, misdiagnosis, and a lack of patient follow through with treatment plans."
Colorado’s Office of Behavioral Health (OBH) defines culture as the “shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs, and affective understanding learned through a process of socialization. Culture includes, but is not limited to: race, ethnicity, religion, spirituality, gender, sexual orientation, language and disabilities.” Further, culture influences attitudes, expressions of need, and help seeking practices, which means that understanding culturally competent best practices to serve clients across diverse backgrounds is crucial for reducing behavioral health disparities (Colorado Behavioral Health Equity Report, 2015). In addition, research has shown that treatment barriers for culturally diverse groups, such as inability of providers to recognize influential cultural beliefs and traditions, can lead to patient frustration, misdiagnosis, and a lack of patient follow through with treatment plans (Sanchez et al., 2012). Thus mental health issues and service provision are best addressed by engaging community partners who can bring their own perspectives and understandings of community life, culture, and health issues to a project. And, “if health inequalities are rooted in larger socioeconomic inequalities, then approaches to health improvement must take into account the concerns of communities and be able to benefit diverse populations” (CTSA, 2011).
The CBHER further reports that “over half of OBH staff surveyed indicated that the agency either ‘sometimes’ or ‘regularly’ conducts tailored activities to engage culturally diverse communities”. When asked about the engagement of specific individuals, groups, or entities, however, responses ranged considerably. For example, human services agencies were indicated as ‘regularly’ engaged more than any other community group or entity. Still, 42% of OBH respondents reported that human services agencies are either ‘sometimes’ or ‘regularly’ engaged, while remaining participants reported these agencies are either ‘seldom’ (42%) or ‘never’ (nearly 16%) engaged. Further, many community groups or entities had substantially lower ratings; for example, half or more of OBH respondents reported that traditional healers or local business owners are ‘never’ engaged.”
This website aims to provide some general guidelines and specific self-assessment tools which aim to introduce or augment culturally aware practices in established mental health agencies. We hope that these suggestions are general enough to be adaptable to agencies in all levels of their community engagement process, with the hope of ultimately developing successful, culturally-responsive behavioral health practices that help promote engagement, service provision, and retention of clients across cultural backgrounds.
This website was created in the context of a service-learning course in the Department of Psychology at the University of Denver, taught by Omar Gudino, PhD, ABPP. The class partnered with Jane Flournoy, MA, LMFT, LPC, CAC III from the Colorado Department of Human Services, Office of Behavioral Health to develop a resource to assist agencies in improving health equity in Colorado.
The website was developed by Thania Galvan, Erin Long, Diana Mihalache, and Julie Olomi — graduate students in the Clinical Child Psychology program at the University of Denver.