K-01: Enlace Familiar: Combating Mental Health Stigma, Improving Mental Health Literacy, Supporting Mental Health Discussions at Home, and Access to care among Latinx Adolescents from Mixed Status Families

Latinx adolescents, especially those from mixed-status families (where one or both parents are undocumented), experience increased levels of depressive symptoms when compared to youth from other ethnic-racial groups, but they face several barriers to receiving mental health care, such as individual and cultural stigma, low levels of mental health literacy, concerns about protecting the safety of their undocumented parents, and reluctance to discuss their mental health needs with their parents or other adults. To receive care, these teens need to overcome these barriers. This project will develop, pilot, and evaluate an intervention specifically geared to Latinx adolescents from mixed-status families aimed at increasing youth discussions of their mental health needs with parents or other trusted adults, lowering mental health stigma, improving mental health literacy, and increasing their access to mental health care.