Everyone has a brain, everyone has mental health, and everyone deserves to be able to care for it. It doesn’t matter what language you speak, you should be able to find the resources you need to get the help you deserve.

This is the mindset that led to the development of Hope for the Day’s Spanish programing, Lo Que Callamos.

“Mental health is for everyone, not just English speakers,” Maria Curiel, Bilingual Education Coordinator, said.

Hope for the Day has always focused on meeting people where they’re at and directing people to helpful resources. Translating our signature mental health education program, The Things We Don’t Say, to Spanish was a natural next step towards breaking down the stigma.

Talking about mental health can be difficult enough on its own. With the stigma that surrounds these conversations, it can feel daunting to even know where to start. That conversation grows even more overwhelming when there’s a language barrier in the way.

“It helps us dismantle the barriers of understanding mental health in our Spanish speaking communities,” Education Instructor Maria Requena said. “I now have about 2 years teaching mental health with Hope for the Day, going on to year three, and each year I have seen how the need to talk about mental health in Spanish continues to grow — specifically in Chicago.” 

Requena, Curiel, and Allison Herman, Hope for the Day’s Director of Education, spoke of the demand for Spanish programming. “We like to listen to our community and they tell us what they think they need and what would be really helpful,” Herman said.

According to Herman, expanding the education into Spanish was not just born out of requests from the community Hope for the Day serves, but also internally from staff.

Curiel and Requena were two of many at Hope for the Day who helped bring the program to life. Bilingual staff members, interns, and Clinical Oversight Committee members — everyone put in incredible time and effort to ensure all the materials were translated properly.

“We would get together every week to translate everything, word for word, sentence by sentence so that we could not only just translate the words, but truly understand the concepts the way that we, Hispanics, would understand the best,” Requena said.

The creation of Lo Que Callamos goes back to the purpose of all of Hope for the Day’s programming: making mental health educations, resources, and conversations as accessible as possible. The dedication to the translations is just one way to make people feel more comfortable navigating uncomfortable conversations.
The time and care put into the project showcases the team’s respect for their work, but for Curiel and Requena, this is also personal. 

“Growing up, I didn't have a lot of opportunity to feel my emotions, or process what I was feeling, and it was difficult to not get to connect with myself, or with my parents or family in this way,” Requena said.

She continued saying now at this stage of her life, she’s excited to be able to grow personally and initiate these conversations with her community.

“Many times in Latinx spaces, it’s like there's a lot of fear?,” Requena said. “I don’t know, we don’t talk about mental health, we don’t check in on our emotions, it’s very difficult. We love love, and happiness, and party, and that's all fine, but we also need to accept that there’s a variety of feelings and emotions and that each emotion has its own place, its own merit. Getting to have this conversation in Spanish is a way we can start to break the ice, take care of each other better, and for me that’s the most incredible thing.”

Curiel shares the same optimism for the work she’s doing. Having experience as a social worker before her time at Hope for the Day, she’s grateful to once again have the opportunity to support people who need it.

“I have been very fortunate to be part of this project to help the Spanish speaking community,” Curiel said. “As a humanitarian and an empath, I am always willing to be a resource to someone who needs it. I’m always willing to help someone, to help them find ways to address any challenge they are facing, so this is going to be a great help to the community.”

Even with many hours of work behind them, they’re looking forward. They’re ready to present all the information they’ve spent hours carefully translating to the world, ready to have vital conversations, and ready to connect with people.

“Although we are ready to launch our material and program in Spanish, it doesn't mean that's where it ends,” Curiel said. “Because our goal is to continue to work on the material and resources available to the Spanish speaking community.”

Upcoming public education sessions of Lo Que Callamos can be found at peervention.org.

Special thanks to additional contributors who helped make Lo Que Callamos happen:

• Erick De Santiago - Art Director, Hope For The Day

• Thalia Rodriguez - Volunteer

• Michelle Hayes, LMFT, CCATP - Volunteer

• Education Interns

• Ricardo Pliego

• Darío Zamorano

• Josefina Medrano Hernandez

• Clinical Oversight Subcommittee

• Gina Cano, LCSW

• Alice Robles-Shanahan, LCSW

• Nieves A. Esquivel, M.A., PsyD.