For policy makers, this involves actively recruiting multiethnic and multiracial staff, and supporting the inclusion of cultural competency issues on licensure and certification examinations. The campaign encourages administrators to include cultural competency requirements in staff job descriptions and to ensure that staff members participate in cultural competency training. Practitioners are encouraged to learn as much as they can about a patient s culture, while recognizing the influence their own cultural background may have on treatment. Another recommendation is that practitioners work within each patient s family structure, which is in large part determined by culture and race. In working with minority-focused organizations to educate the public about the important role of culture in mental health issues, CMHS stresses the point that there is help available for children.
Help is available.
And now we need to work together to push the system and the Nation forward. If we don t take up this cause, no one else will. The Center for Mental Health Services provides free information for consumers and mental health professionals. The Center is planning to develop Spanish-language materials.