
Forging Caminos
Pathways to Becoming a Bilingual Mental Health Professional
American Psychological Association (Publisher)
Published on 18. November 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
277 pages
978-1-4338-4266-5 (ISBN)
Description
This book is your roadmap to a career as a bilingual mental health provider, with guidance on training programs, conducting research, and building your practice.
Today over 60 million Latine individuals live in the US, more than 70 percent of whom are fluent in languages besides English. Disparities in health care are significant among this population, and there is a great need for qualified mental health providers to assess, diagnose, and treat both significant and everyday mental health concerns. Yet, less than 8 percent of psychologists are Latinx, with only 5.5 percent identifying as Spanish-speaking, and current standards of training, accreditation and competence for bilingual providers is woefully unstandardized.
This book aims to chart a new path forward for bilingual mental health in the United States. Editors Maciel Campos, Yessenia Mejia, and AndrEs J. Consoli have gathered a prestigious group of scholar-practitioners who describe the current lay of the land in bilingual mental health care, with a focus on the graduate student and early career professional who is seeking a career as a bilingual mental health provider. Chapters describe the process of identifying and navigating graduate programs with an emphasis on bilingual approaches to training and care, conducting and publishing bilingual research, internship and postdoctoral training, and building a bilingual mental health practice. The unique experiences of Black and Indigenous Latine are given particular emphasis throughout.
Today over 60 million Latine individuals live in the US, more than 70 percent of whom are fluent in languages besides English. Disparities in health care are significant among this population, and there is a great need for qualified mental health providers to assess, diagnose, and treat both significant and everyday mental health concerns. Yet, less than 8 percent of psychologists are Latinx, with only 5.5 percent identifying as Spanish-speaking, and current standards of training, accreditation and competence for bilingual providers is woefully unstandardized.
This book aims to chart a new path forward for bilingual mental health in the United States. Editors Maciel Campos, Yessenia Mejia, and AndrEs J. Consoli have gathered a prestigious group of scholar-practitioners who describe the current lay of the land in bilingual mental health care, with a focus on the graduate student and early career professional who is seeking a career as a bilingual mental health provider. Chapters describe the process of identifying and navigating graduate programs with an emphasis on bilingual approaches to training and care, conducting and publishing bilingual research, internship and postdoctoral training, and building a bilingual mental health practice. The unique experiences of Black and Indigenous Latine are given particular emphasis throughout.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Washington DC
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 16 mm
Weight
340 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4338-4266-5 (9781433842665)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Maciel Campos, PsyD, is the program director for the New York City Health and Hospitals Kings County Behavioral Health Child and Adolescent Outpatient Psychiatry Department in Brooklyn, NY. She holds a voluntary clinical assistant professor appointment at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University. She earned her doctoral degree at the Adler University in Chicago, IL. She completed a clinical predoctoral internship at the Columbia University Medical Center, where she continued to work as a licensed psychologist and program director. Dr. Campos is a bilingual English-Spanish speaking psychologist who accompanies bilingual English-Spanish speaking Latinx families living in the United States.
Yessenia Mejia, PsyD, is a bilingual-bicultural clinical assistant professor in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at New York University's Grossman School of Medicine and program manager at the Family Health Centers of NYU Langone in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Dr. Mejia received her doctorate from the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology at Yeshiva University in New York. She was formerly a staff psychologist at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and a postdoctoral fellow at CUIMC. Dr. Mejia also serves as a cochair for the National Latinx Psychological Association's Bilingual Issues in Latinx Mental Health Special Interest Group.
Andres Consoli, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) and a licensed psychologist in California. Dr. Consoli was professor and associate chair of the Department of Counseling at San Francisco State University. He was raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he received a licenciatura degree in clinical psychology at the Universidad de Belgrano. He earned a masters and doctorate in counseling psychology at UCSB and received postdoctoral training in behavioral medicine in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University's School of Medicine.
Yessenia Mejia, PsyD, is a bilingual-bicultural clinical assistant professor in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at New York University's Grossman School of Medicine and program manager at the Family Health Centers of NYU Langone in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Dr. Mejia received her doctorate from the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology at Yeshiva University in New York. She was formerly a staff psychologist at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and a postdoctoral fellow at CUIMC. Dr. Mejia also serves as a cochair for the National Latinx Psychological Association's Bilingual Issues in Latinx Mental Health Special Interest Group.
Andres Consoli, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) and a licensed psychologist in California. Dr. Consoli was professor and associate chair of the Department of Counseling at San Francisco State University. He was raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he received a licenciatura degree in clinical psychology at the Universidad de Belgrano. He earned a masters and doctorate in counseling psychology at UCSB and received postdoctoral training in behavioral medicine in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University's School of Medicine.
Content
Contributors
Forewords
Foreword: Compromisos and Visibility-Jessica Gomez
Foreword: !Date Puesto!-Melanie M. Domenech Rodriguez
!Bienvenide! An Introduction to Forging Caminos
Maciel Campos, Yessenia Mejia, and Andres J. Consoli
1. Ha Llegado el Momento: The Intentional Becoming of a Bilingual Mental Health Professional in the United States
Maciel Campos, Yessenia Mejia, and Andres J. Consoli
2. Suenos y Logros: Maximizing the College Experience and Applying to Graduate School as Aspiring Bilingual Mental Health Scientists-Practitioners
Jeanett Castellanos, Veronica Franco, Karen E. Godinez Gonzalez, and Erick Felix
3. !Si Se Pudo! Now What? Starting Graduate School as a Bilingual Student
Cristalis Capielo Rosario, Genesis Ramos Rosado, and Candice N. Hargons
4. Construyendo a Decolonial Latinx Mental Health With Black and Indigenous Latinxs at the Center
Hector Y. Adames and Nayeli Y. Chavez-Duenas
5. El Entrenamiento: Training Necessities and Opportunities to Advance Bilingual Mental Health Competencies
Andres J. Consoli, Yvette Ramirez-Gutierrez, Maira Anaya-Lopez, Isabel Lopez, and Evelyn A. Melendez
6. Ensename a Volar: Supervision y Mentoria of Bilingual Trainees
Jacqueline Fuentes, Eckart Werther, Charmaine Mora-Ozuna, Geysa Flores, and Edward A. Delgado-Romero
7. La Investigacion: Conducting and Publishing Bilingual Research
Yesenia Uribe, Alberta M. Gloria, and Jeanett Castellanos
8. Advanced Caminos: Navegando Internship and Postdoctoral Programs as a Bilingual Trainee
Maciel Campos and Yessenia Mejia
9. Deciding Your Camino in Bilingual Mental Health
Jasmine A. Mena and Grevelin Ulerio
10. El Camino Clinico: Cultivating Your Clinical and Cultural Identity
Kimberly Alba and Jorge Cienfuegos Szalay
11. El Camino Academico: Bilingual Professional Identity in Academia
Vanesa Mora Ringle and Raquel Sosa
12. !Ya Pues! Intentional, Comprehensive Bilingual Mental Health Training Now
Maciel Campos, Yessenia Mejia, and Andres J. Consoli
Index
About the Editors
Forewords
Foreword: Compromisos and Visibility-Jessica Gomez
Foreword: !Date Puesto!-Melanie M. Domenech Rodriguez
!Bienvenide! An Introduction to Forging Caminos
Maciel Campos, Yessenia Mejia, and Andres J. Consoli
1. Ha Llegado el Momento: The Intentional Becoming of a Bilingual Mental Health Professional in the United States
Maciel Campos, Yessenia Mejia, and Andres J. Consoli
2. Suenos y Logros: Maximizing the College Experience and Applying to Graduate School as Aspiring Bilingual Mental Health Scientists-Practitioners
Jeanett Castellanos, Veronica Franco, Karen E. Godinez Gonzalez, and Erick Felix
3. !Si Se Pudo! Now What? Starting Graduate School as a Bilingual Student
Cristalis Capielo Rosario, Genesis Ramos Rosado, and Candice N. Hargons
4. Construyendo a Decolonial Latinx Mental Health With Black and Indigenous Latinxs at the Center
Hector Y. Adames and Nayeli Y. Chavez-Duenas
5. El Entrenamiento: Training Necessities and Opportunities to Advance Bilingual Mental Health Competencies
Andres J. Consoli, Yvette Ramirez-Gutierrez, Maira Anaya-Lopez, Isabel Lopez, and Evelyn A. Melendez
6. Ensename a Volar: Supervision y Mentoria of Bilingual Trainees
Jacqueline Fuentes, Eckart Werther, Charmaine Mora-Ozuna, Geysa Flores, and Edward A. Delgado-Romero
7. La Investigacion: Conducting and Publishing Bilingual Research
Yesenia Uribe, Alberta M. Gloria, and Jeanett Castellanos
8. Advanced Caminos: Navegando Internship and Postdoctoral Programs as a Bilingual Trainee
Maciel Campos and Yessenia Mejia
9. Deciding Your Camino in Bilingual Mental Health
Jasmine A. Mena and Grevelin Ulerio
10. El Camino Clinico: Cultivating Your Clinical and Cultural Identity
Kimberly Alba and Jorge Cienfuegos Szalay
11. El Camino Academico: Bilingual Professional Identity in Academia
Vanesa Mora Ringle and Raquel Sosa
12. !Ya Pues! Intentional, Comprehensive Bilingual Mental Health Training Now
Maciel Campos, Yessenia Mejia, and Andres J. Consoli
Index
About the Editors