469 CRISOL Mente: a lay health worker program to reduce mental health disparities in latino immigrant communities in the U.S.

Abstract OP 22: Mental Health 4, B302 (FCSH), September 4, 2025, 14:45 - 15:45 Latino immigrants in the U.S. face significant disparities in accessing mental health services due to factors such as inadequate health insurance, limited awareness of available resources, language barriers, stigma, and fear of deportation. CRISOL Mente is an ongoing program that utilizes lay health workers (LHWs) to help reduce these disparities within the Latino community. This study presents preliminary findings on the program’s impact and implementation. Nine Latina LHWs received a 40-hour comprehensive training, along with ongoing support, to identify Latino community members with unmet mental health needs and connect them to free, culturally tailored services at two Latino-serving clinics. LHWs completed pre- and post-training assessments measuring changes in their knowledge, attitudes and self-efficacy. Community members linked to services also completed surveys on demographics, migration history, mental health, and social determinants of health. After training, LHWs demonstrated improved mental health knowledge (p = 0.008), attitudes (p = 0.033), and self-efficacy (p = 0.063). Over 12 months, LHWs screened 461 Latino community members, with 45% meeting program eligibility. Of those, nearly 99% were connected to free mental health services, and 85% began treatment. Among the 200 linked community members, 74% were female, with an average age of 38 years, and 78% were uninsured. The most common countries of origin were Mexico (35%) and Ecuador (14%). About 92% met the criteria for depression, 74% for anxiety, and 48% for PTSD. Most had experienced intimate partner violence (81%) and/or community violence (73%). The CRISOL Mente program is effective at equipping LHWs to identify community members with unmet mental health needs and link them to culturally appropriate mental health services. Empowering community members through structured training can enhance mental health access for populations that are systematically and structurally excluded. More research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of this model to reduce mental health disparities in Latino communities in the U.S.