The Challenge
The prevalence and severity of mental health challenges among young people has been on the rise for several years, and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated stresses related to physical health, economic instability, and support network disruptions. Immigrant youth, who represent one in four children in Philadelphia, face additional environmental, legal, and economic pressures that impact their behavioral and mental health. Obstacles to accessing adequate behavioral healthcare include language barriers, immigration status, and a lack of community-based and culturally appropriate intervention models.
The Project
Through this Emerging Leader Fellowship, Eduardo Burgos Quezada is working with Nationalities Service Center to identify gaps in behavioral health services offered to immigrant youth in Philadelphia, learn about community-led interventions created to address the lack of culturally and linguistically appropriate services, examine evidence-based intervention models, and develop recommendations for integrating best practices into Philadelphia’s behavioral healthcare system.
This Emerging Leader Fellowship will enable Eduardo to:
- Complete a literature review to identify the behavioral health challenges facing immigrant youth from Central America and Mexico.
- Conduct participatory, ethnographic research by engaging with and centering the voices of Central American and Mexican immigrant youth in Philadelphia.
- Identify the behavioral health resources available to immigrant and refugee youth, as well as the gaps in service provision, by engaging with community-based providers through the Philadelphia Area Immigrant Collective Action Group.
- Assess the appropriateness of available behavioral healthcare interventions in terms of accessibility, affordability, cultural competence, and participant engagement.
- Develop and disseminate actionable recommendations for how Philadelphia’s behavioral healthcare system can address the needs of Central American and Mexican immigrant youth more effectively.
