back to September 2024 newsletter  
By Liliana Ramos, LMFT

Suicide prevention in the Hispanic community requires a culturally sensitive approach that acknowledges the unique challenges, strengths, and needs of this diverse group. A Hispanic person from the Mexico is different from a Hispanic person from Venezuela or anywhere else in the world.

The Hispanic community has strengths such as Familismo, where family comes first. They can also gather strength from religion and spirituality. At the same time, these two strengths can become weaknesses when speaking about suicide prevention. Although family can be a big protective factor against suicide, an individual who is unable to meet the family expectations can hold feelings of guilt or shame that can lead to suicide. Religious beliefs can provide comfort and resilience, but they can also create a barrier if there is a stigma associated with mental health or suicide. Other cultural influences include machismo, which suggests that men are strong, dominant, and don’t show emotions, and marianismo, which suggests women are virtuous, submissive, and care for the family. Both are protective of how the outside world views their family. These can make people reluctant to seek mental health assistance. Other weaknesses are language barrier, stigma, mistrust, and a possible concern about immigration status.

In order to ensure that individuals from the Hispanic community receive suicide prevention material, we need to engage families in discussions about mental health and suicide prevention in their own language. We also need to train religious and community leaders about suicide prevention so that they can assist Hispanic individuals in their community through classes, brochures, bilingual and bicultural providers, and community leaders who speak their language and understand their culture. We can also promote the crisis line at 988 so that they are comfortable calling, texting, or chatting and knowing that they will be able to connect with someone who speaks their language.

What happens when prevention doesn’t work? How do we help the Hispanic family that is left behind? Having someone die from suicide requires a culturally sensitive and compassionate approach because it can have significant stigma in many Hispanic communities, which makes it more challenging for the family to cope with their grief. Again, family loyalty, respect for their family and culture, and incorporating spiritual practices into the grieving process is key.

What’s important when dealing with the topic of suicide and the Hispanic community is to provide compassionate, culturally sensitive support from mental health professionals and community leaders. Hispanic families are used to navigating challenges. A culturally sensitive therapist fostering healing and resilience in the face of tragedy will help the individual and the family navigate through difficult emotions and challenges.

back to September 2024 newsletter