Non-English speakers struggle to find mental health care help in El Paso County

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO)- More than a third of people report they can't find a therapist or psychologist to treat them in El Paso County.

The El Paso County Public Health Department said non-English speakers are much less likely to see a specialist for mental health care. An alarming statistic coming from the El Paso County Community Health Assessment shows a staggering 42.4 percent of people are struggling to find a mental health appointment and non-English speakers are feeling the impact more.

"It's definitely a bigger disparity with those who are non-English speakers, specifically our Spanish-speaking populations. The numbers of utilizing those services, including health services but there's quite a gap," said Maggie Youkhana, Health Planner, El Paso County Public Health.

That's the case for "Jaz," a single mom of a two-year-old girl.

"I'm single, who will take care of my daughter, the time and then work. It's all of that," said Jaz.

According to the county health department, the number of people seeking help is on the rise. 50 percent of people responded that another reason they don't seek treatment is because of their health insurance.

"1 in 4 individual Colorado residents experiencing mental illness and similar data that we found in our community health assessment, we found that 1 in 5 have reported poor mental health in the past 30 days," said Youkhana.

Now after the newest results, the county is looking for more resources to fill in the gap.

"Connecting individuals to the available resources, either that they're providing or that they're connected to, providing services and resources that are also available in Spanish, especially those around mental health," said Youkhana.

It's something that "Jaz" is thankful for.

"An interpreter would be nice, but if the person spoke Spanish it'd be a lot more helpful," said Jaz.

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