ABOUT US
Annual Cultural Competency Plans
Our program leadership and staff recognize that we live in a culturally rich and varied state and serve diverse clients and families. Moreover, inequalities in the availability,
access, and quality of mental health care related to socio-cultural factors are widely recognized problems throughout the United States. We believe that increasing cultural
competency is one way to decrease these disparities while building capacity to provide quality services to diverse populations. Therefore, all SBHG agencies develop an Annual
Cultural Competency Plan to increase our ability to be more sensitive, caring, responsive and welcoming within the context of the cultural beliefs, values,
behaviors, needs, and strengths presented by our clients, their families, and their communities.
Our Annual Cultural Competency Plan is developed as part of our Total Quality Management program and includes three components:
- Training: Staff must participate in at least one cultural competency training annually and service staff must attend at least one additional training
focused on a cultural group in the service population.
- Basic Practices: The following basic cultural competency practices are monitored and maintained:
- Written policies and procedures on cultural and linguistic competency;
- Translations of consumer documents in county threshold languages; and,
- Human resource recruitment and retention strategies to assure staff diversity that reflects the service population.
- Elective Projects: Each SBHG agency identifies and works on an elective project annually to advance the cultural competency of staff and/or the organization. Examples include:
- Increasing staff sensitivity to cultural issues and their personal development as multi-culturally competent providers through supervision protocols, peer reviews, and ground rounds;
- Increasing the voice of youth and families from different cultural groups through participation in agency processes - including team decision making, focus groups, quality councils and peer-to-peer services; and,
- Building collaborative relationships with culturally diverse community-based organizations for effecting referrals and partnerships in service delivery.
The Compton Day of the Dead Display
The popular Mexican holiday Día de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a celebration of life observed throughout Mexico and around the world in many cultures. It takes place on November 1-2, in connection with the Catholic holidays of All Saints' Day (November 1) and All Souls' Day (November 2). The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember those who have passed away. The family of the departed makes offerings of food and drink and places the traditional flowers, marigolds, at each gravesite or on elaborate altars honoring the deceased. During this offering the family members also offer prayers or speak to the dead. Families may take part in singing, dancing and processions honoring the deceased relatives.
Day of the Dead is not intended to be a mournful experience. It is more a way of honoring our loved ones who are no longer with us and keeping family and friends together with cultural and spiritual values that provide the ability to cope with loss, and understand dying and death within their cultural context.
Spirituality is a way to find meaning, hope, comfort and inner peace in life. Medical studies indicate that people who describe themselves as spiritual exhibit fewer self-destructive behaviors such as suicide, smoking, and drug and alcohol abuse. When working with Latino clients and their families, it is very important for mental health practitioners to take a holistic approach which includes spiritual, emotional, and cultural dimensions. Some studies have commented on how Latinos tend to draw on their spirituality and belief in God to give each other a sense of hope when dealing with mental illness. Understanding the relationship between spirituality and mental health can help clients connect with their cultural and spiritual experience as a part of their healing process and allow them cope through suffering.
Lopez, Ricardo A. "How can Latinos believe in life after death and still be so afraid of death?" Latino Opinion 13 April 2009
