Una Vida, an expansion of San Carlos’ One Life Counseling Center, opened its doors in Redwood City last week as the first nonprofit in the county to focus on providing bilingual mental health services to Latino residents and communities of color.
One Life’s clientele has always been greatly diverse, Una Vida program director Jennifer Bautista said. But during the pandemic she said it became increasingly obvious more culturally sensitive mental health services were needed for One Life’s growing Latino clientele.
Over the past two years, many had turned to the service provider in need of food and other household resources but without strong financial footing or insurance, many struggled to keep up with mental health services. Recognizing the need, Jackie Gonzalez, the program’s new director of clinical development, drafted a proposal to establish a separate One Life branch targeting the specific needs of Latinos and residents of color, Bautista said.
The proposal was drafted in December and six months later Una Vida’s doors opened at 525 Veterans Blvd. with three Latinas leading its mission. Bautista, who has led the center’s school based Trauma Program for the past three years, is joined by Gonzalez, and Cony Fuentes, director of Community Partnerships.
“As a woman and as a Latina, once I stand up in front of them and tell my story and relate to them, they grab onto what I’m truly saying and I have seen a huge change around mental health. … We can relate to them and can say we know where you’re coming from,” Bautista said; One Life’s Executive Director Suzie Hughes felt strongly the program should be run by people of Latino descent.
The counseling center has long offered services on a sliding scale to ensure low-income earners receive the care they need but Bautista said the agency will look to increase its pro bono offerings under Una Vida. Bautista said she and her team are already on the search for grant opportunities and are looking to attract support from the county, a main insurance provider for residents who do not qualify for other public insurance options, including undocumented residents.
A top priority for Una Vida will be creating a community for new residents who immigrated to the county from outside the country, Bautista said, noting the move can often leave many without a support system.
“We have seen so many people coming from different countries and they come with major trauma,” Bautista said. “This is such a big change for them so we want to start events where they can meet other families who came from different countries, to build a sense of community.”
In addition to mental health counseling, Bautista said staff will also act as case workers providing wraparound services. One Life’s food and goods distribution will move under the Una Vida umbrella and families will be offered items like diapers after each visit. Una Vida will also host parenting classes, new mom support groups and teen groups, providing day care during classes to ensure families can attend.
Redwood City Mayor Giselle Hale joined a group of supporters during the center’s grand opening last Thursday and lauded the program’s offerings as direly needed. Also among the new program’s supporters was the Menlo Church, the Bella Vista Foundation, which provided Una Vida with a grant to run mom groups, and the Sequoia Healthcare District.
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“[Una Vida] comes at a critical time, with our Latinx community hit hard during the pandemic and the mental health strains that have followed. Culturally sensitive, in-language care is essential to providing for mental health needs. We’re delighted this new facility is open in Redwood City,” Hale said in a statement Wednesday.
Latino residents accounted for about half of all infections in San Mateo County during much of the pandemic, a trend officials attributed to a high population of Latinos working in service jobs that could not be done at home like many office jobs. Meanwhile, vaccination rates among Latino residents have trailed the county’s overall rate with about 73% of Latinos vaccinated compared to the county’s 95%.
A number of public and nonprofit organizations have sought to help underserved community members experiencing financial instability caused by contracting COVID-19 through rent and food assistance, including One Life.
Bautista lauded the effort from other agencies and said Una Vida will be looking to partner with as many of those agencies as possible to tie in the final piece of the equation, mental health support. She and her colleagues will be traveling up and down the county from Daly City to East Palo Alto to spread the word about the program’s offerings and to fight back on the lasting stigma around needing mental support.
The agency is also in the process of hiring seven bilingual clinicians to its team who will pick up at least 12 clients each in the next few months. On average, Bautista said the center’s 100 clinics treat between 20 and 25 clients a week, a number that has grown during the pandemic when the center had to institute its first waitlist due to such high demand.
“It hurts my heart seeing so many kids and so many families that are in need and we want to be able to fill that need,” Bautista said. “My biggest hope is for [Una Vida] to grow because we know as a team we can keep growing. … Mental health is so important now and I’m hoping to break those generational traumas.”
Visit onelifecounselingcenter.com/ or call (650) 394-5155 for more information on Una Vida’s services.
(650) 344-5200 ext. 106
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