Patient and community engagement for mental health disparities in Latinx youth immigrant populations: the Fuerte program

Abstract Latinx newcomer immigrant youth are a population that is at high risk for experiencing behavioral health problems due to a confluence of factors related to their premigration, en route, and postmigration contexts. Yet, Latinx youth are less likely to access behavioral health services when compared to their US-born counterparts. School-based programs have been proposed as the frontline for reducing behavioral health disparities among this group. The current chapter provides an overview of a development of a secondary prevention school-based program targeting these youth called Fuerte. The program was developed through a multisector, community engagement model. The development and collaborations are outlined using the Collective Impact model to describe both the history of Fuerte’s development and its future now that funding has been secured to evaluate its effectiveness. The chapter provides a case example of community-engaged work that has led to successes in disseminating a program for a difficult-to-engage population.