Free Mental Health Screenings Offered in Watts, Los Angeles
Kaiser Permanente Watts Counseling & Learning Center will offer free mental health screenings for all ages on October 6, National Depression Screening Day, at two locations:
Food 4 Less Shopping Center Chesterfield Square Center 1651 E. 103rd St. 1820 W. Slauson Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90002 Los Angeles, CA 90047 at 103rd St. and Compton Ave. at Western and Slauson avenues 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Mental health professionals from Kaiser Permanente, the Watts Health Care Corporation, the Charles Drew Child Development Center and other community agencies will screen participants for major depression, bipolar disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) using 10-minute, anonymous questionnaires. Referrals to free or sliding-fee-scale local services and follow-up will be provided as needed. The event is open to Kaiser Permanente members and non-members, and services will be offered in English and Spanish.
Last year, more than 180 people attended the event, and more than 120 received screening. Those who were not screened received important information and literature, said Martha Watson, LCSW, Counseling Department Manager of the Watts Counseling and Learning Center.
"Language barriers and physicians’ lack of cultural understanding often leads to under-diagnosing minorities suffering from mental illness," she said. "National Depression Screening Day is an easy step toward mental wellness for anyone who’s concerned about their own mental health or of someone close to them.
"When you have the knowledge about mental illness you can take care of yourself, and make appropriate decisions," Watson added.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Latinos are a high-risk group for depression, anxiety, and substance abuse. Equally alarming, they report, the suicide rate among African American youths ages 10 to 14 increased 233 percent over a span of 15 years.
Yet, African Americans are less likely be diagnosed and receive treatment for mental illness than Caucasian Americans, relying instead on family, religious, and social communities for emotional support — even when professional treatment may be necessary.
Watson added that in communities stressed by both violence and poverty, it is more difficult for children to perform well in school and may "act out" or be inattentive as a cover for depression.
"When children are depressed, they can’t function," she said. "They may be sad and just not have the words to express it. So they accommodate, they adjust to their environment and learn to live with the malaise of depression, spending more energy on adjusting than on their academics."
National Depression Screening Day, held in October as part of Mental Illness Awareness Week, is a program of the nonprofit organization Screening for Mental Health, Inc. Screenings are held across the country at 7,000 screening sites, including hospitals, mental health clinics, colleges and primary care offices.
For nearly 37 years, the nonprofit Watts Counseling & Learning Center has offered free or low-cost counseling, educational therapy, summer camps, preschool and after-school child care for families living in the Watts area. The families need not be members of Kaiser Permanente to take advantage of the Center’s services.
Kaiser Permanente is a nonprofit, prepaid, group practice health maintenance organization (HMO), founded in 1945. The Kaiser Permanente Southern California Region has more than 3.1 million members. It includes 3,600 physicians in the Southern California Permanente Medical Group (SCPMG) and 46,000 Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals and medical group employees. The Region is served by 11 major medical centers.
http://www.kaiserpermanente.org
FACT SHEET Mental Illness & Ethnic Minorities Ethnic minorities are less likely to seek treatment, and systemic barriers keep them from accessing care. In 1997, 24 percent of Caucasians with depression received treatment, compared to 20 percent of Latinos and 16 percent of African Americans with depression. Source: http://www.nmha.org/newsroom/system/news.vw.cfm?do=vw&rid=232 Elderly Hispanics and African Americans have higher rates of depression than their white counterparts, due largely to greater health burdens and lack of health insurance. Source: Northwestern University News Release, "Among Elderly, Depression More Prevalent in Hispanics and Blacks." Nov. 2003. Living in poverty has the most measurable effect on the rates of mental illness. People in the lowest socioeconomic status are about two to three times more likely than those in the highest strata to have a mental disorder. Source: 1999 supplement to the Surgeon General's report on Mental Health. Latinos are identified as a high-risk group for depression, anxiety, and substance abuse. Source: Quality Health Services for Hispanics: The Cultural Competency Component. National Alliance for Hispanic Health, 2001. There are higher rates of mental illness among U.S. born and long-term residents than among recent Latino immigrants. A study found conclusively that long-term residence in the United States significantly increased rates in mental disorders, with particularly dramatic increases in the rates of substance abuse. Source: Vega, W.A.; Kolody, B.; Aguilar-Gaxiola, S., et al. Lifetime Prevalence of DSM-III-R Psychiatric Disorders Among Urban and Rural Mexican Americans in California. Archives of General Psychiatry. 1998; 55(9):771-778. Across a recent 15 year span, suicide rates increased 233% among African Americans aged 10 to 14 compared to 120% among Caucasian Americans in the same age group across the same span of time. Source: www.nami.org. "African American Community Mental Health Fact Sheet." Culture biases against mental health professionals and health care professionals in general prevent many African Americans from accessing care due to prior experiences with historical misdiagnoses, inadequate treatment, and a lack of cultural understanding; only 2% of psychiatrists, 2% of psychologists and 4% of social workers in the U.S. are African Americans. Source: www.nami.org. "African American Community Mental Health Fact Sheet." Somatization -- the manifestation of physical illnesses related to mental health -- occurs at a rate of 15% among African Americans, and 9% among Caucasian Americans. Source: www.nami.org. "African American Community Mental Health Fact Sheet." While the rate of bipolar disorder is the same among African Americans as it is among other Americans, African Americans are less likely to receive a diagnosis and, therefore, treatment for this illness. Source: http://nmha.org/infoctr/factsheets/BipolarDisorderAfricanAmericans.cfm