Suppose you live in a place where the language, customs, behaviors and schedules are very different from how you were raised. Now imagine you experience emotional trauma due to a car accident, physical or sexual abuse, depression or substance abuse, but you have nowhere to turn for help. The places you would typically go to for treatment don’t speak your language, understand your customs or offer extended business hours. Treatment is critical to save your life, yet you have no access to help. This is a very real situation for many living in the metro Atlanta area.
The Clinic for Education, Treatment and Prevention of Addiction Inc. is a nonprofit organization founded in 1999 to address a growing need for substance abuse and behavioral health services among Georgia’s Latino population.
CETPA’s mission is to provide evidenced-based, culturally and linguistically appropriate substance abuse, mental health counseling and prevention services with priority to the Latino community. It is the first, and still only, Latino agency in Georgia to earn national accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities to provide behavioral health treatment and prevention services in English and/or Spanish.
And CETPA is making a difference.
Our clients have serious mental health and addiction issues; most often, they are uninsured, with no other place to turn for help. Hospitals and other health care providers refer patients to CETPA because they are unable to offer bilingual services. Firsthand patient accounts speak to the effectiveness of the programs, with many saying CETPA saved their lives and held their families together.
Approximately 85 percent of our adult clients are immigrants representing 22 Spanish-speaking countries and Brazil. About 90 percent of our youth are first-generation Latinos born in the United States to at least one immigrant parent. Clients drive from 15 minutes to more than two hours to receive our services, which address issues that range from anxiety and depression to bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. We also treat those with alcohol and drug-use disorders.
CETPA’s workforce makes up the largest concentration of bilingual and tri-lingual licensed clinicians in Georgia. We have a team of 24 clinical staff members that includes psychiatrists, psychologists, licensed professional counselors, licensed social workers, certified addiction counselors and paraprofessionals that provide direct clinical services in English, Spanish and Portuguese. We also have six of the eight bilingual certified prevention specialists in the state. During 2014, the clinical team provided 15,804 behavioral health services to about 1,400 unduplicated consumers (671 children and 727 adults) — a 15 percent increase from 2013.
CETPA has three primary programs:
— Direct clinical services provide evaluations and assessments for mental health and substance-use disorders, psychiatric services, psychological services, tele-counseling, play therapy, nursing services, medication management and individual, family and group counseling.
— Intervention services provide recovery support to Latino adolescents struggling with substance abuse, education, legal issues and life challenges by offering tutoring, counseling, life skills and healthy activities. The goal is to help youth become drug free, eliminate involvement with juvenile justice, finish high school and go to college or enter the workforce.
— Prevention services are offered at our five regional locations in Dalton, Carrollton, Valdosta, Savannah and Norcross. Additionally, we offer statewide programs on alcohol abuse, prescription medication abuse and suicide prevention in English and Spanish.
Research indicates it takes three to seven years to master a new language. But when those fluent in English face emotional adversity, even they tend to revert to their original language to accurately describe their situation. Seven years is too long to wait for treatment. It just may be too late.
CETPA is funded through grants and the generosity of the community. For more information, visit www.CETPA.org
Pierluigi Mancini is CEO of CEPTA (Clinic for Education, Treatment and Prevention of Addiction).
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