Pueden encontrar la versión en español aquí.
According to the Utah Department of Health and Human Services, more than 90% of Utahns have been impacted by suicide in some way. After launching a suicide prevention playbook last year, the department is now offering those services in Spanish.
The Live On Spanish Playbook will be available for free on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. Currently, eight short lessons are available to provide knowledge and skills, and to connect people with resources in order to make an impact in Utah’s Spanish-speaking communities.
“[Latinos are] less likely to seek help than the majority of the Caucasian community,” said Karla Arroyo, executive director of the Multicultural Counseling Center. “We don’t know whether the [suicide] rates are higher or lower. What we do know is that they’re less likely to seek help.”
Arroyo said the gap is, in part, a cultural one.
“What has happened culturally and traditionally with the Latino community is that you’ll turn inwards,” she said.”The issue of mental health has not been addressed within the Latino community as it is something that has been seen as shameful. It’s something that has always been looked at as only crazy people deal with it.”
This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aim to inform readers across the state.