Saint Anthony Hospital
Chicago

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Latinos and African Americans have high prevalence rates of mental illness, yet they are less likely to receive treatment when compared with other ethnic groups. According to research from the University of Illinois Chicago, minority families are less likely to seek help from mental health professionals as compared to caucasian families because of stigma, lack of information, inaccessible locations, transportation difficulties and insurance system complexities.

Chicago's South Lawndale community, which Saint Anthony Hospital has been serving for more than a century, has the highest number of Mexican immigrants in the city, and many are non-English speakers. Many struggle with the symptoms of depression, anxiety and complex post-traumatic stress disorder from surviving years of physical, sexual or emotional abuse; from enduring difficult and sometimes violent journeys into the United States; and from being cut off from communicating with their families in Mexico. However, because of their circumstances, they are forced to function in their daily lives as if nothing is wrong, attending to their basic duties at a high emotional cost, which precipitates one crisis after another.

Saint Anthony Hospital's Mental Health Services initiative provides free, community-based counseling by a licensed clinical social worker and master's level interns to adults and couples who lack money, lack access to health care and lack proficiency in English. Mental Health Services offers culturally responsive therapy that allows individuals to address crises in a supportive, confidential and positive space, often giving them the opportunity to address underlying issues that have gone unresolved for many years. By offering counseling to this vulnerable population, Mental Health Services gives immigrants a chance to heal and to regain control of their lives as well as to achieve personal goals that have gone unmet as a result of the emotional costs of these lived experiences.

There are very few culturally responsive, Spanish-speaking, mental health professionals in South Lawndale who offer free counseling services. Recently, our Mental Health Services initiative accommodated an influx of uninsured people who had been served by government-supported mental health agencies, demonstrating that a hospital can deliver effective, community-based mental health care in a stable manner despite reductions in government funding.

Saint Anthony Hospital is an independent, acute care, community teaching hospital. With specialties from allergy to vascular surgery, Saint Anthony lives out the loving ministry of Jesus Christ, offering health, healing, and hope to the families in communities on Chicago’s West and Southwest Side. Saint Anthony provides quality community care through the power of partnership that turns no one away, leaves no one behind.