Transcript
When treating Veterans of Latino and African-American
descent in the VA, there may be particular stigmas
tied to receiving help.
One of the stigmas that may be holding you back may be
issues around mental health within your particular culture
or the stigmas around that.
So one of the stigmas may be that you don't seek help,
or you're supposed to be stronger than that,
or we'll deal with things within our culture on our own,
so that may be keeping you
from actually coming in or receiving help.
Another stigma may be the stigma around the VA at all,
maybe that you don't want to come in and seek help
because you're not sure how you as a Latino or African-
American will be helped, you're not sure that there will be
people there who understand where you're coming from
from a cultural perspective.
So those types of things may keep you from coming in.
However, there are definitely providers and clinicians
in the VA who are well-versed in different cultures
and who have culturally diverse backgrounds
and who are able to assist you with issues that are going on
for you and issues that may be affecting you
from a cultural perspective.