EL FUTURO

El Futuro has two overarching strategic goals:

1. Ensure more Latino families in North Carolina have access to quality, immigrant-welcoming mental health treatment services; and

2. Develop into a national model and resource center for Latino mental health treatment.

Ultimately, our goal is for Latino families to be able to function at their best and get back to their dreams for the future that brought them to our communities in the first place. Because unmet mental health needs place undue strains on our educational, social services, economic, and criminal justice systems, by nurturing stronger families with culturally-sensitive mental health treatment approaches, we're also building a healthier community for all of North Carolina.

Our strategies for nurturing stronger familias and meeting our larger, strategic goals include:

1. Provide quality, immigrant-welcoming, outpatient mental health treatment in a professional, clinic-based environment. El Futuro provides a full suite of mental health and substance use treatments at our two regional clinics (in Durham and Siler City, NC). We use nationally recognized, trauma-informed interventions proven effective with low-income, Spanish-speaking populations. We provide individual, family, and group treatments through a holistic approach to care.

2. Provide additional mental health treatment and support for low-income Latino families through community-based and rural-reaching activities. To make our services more accessible for Latino families, many of whom face disproportionate barriers to care, we extend our services beyond the clinic doors through school-based and telehealth services - an area we are actively expanding. Because of the shortage of bilingual providers in North Carolina, we've served clients from over 20 counties across the state. We also provide case management services to ensure that immigrant families have access to additional community resources, thereby reducing the stressors that too often impact mental health outcomes.

3. Share knowledge gained over our 14-year history regarding effective Latino mental health practices with other providers serving Latino families in North Carolina and beyond. Because of our history of providing culturally appropriate, trauma-informed care to low-income Latino families, we are often called upon to offer training and technical assistance to others. With funding from the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust and The Duke Endowment, we launched La Mesita - a statewide, Latino Mental Health Provider Network (already almost 300 members and growing) to help reduce professional isolation and burnout among providers serving Latino families, and we are actively expanding other training and technical assistance activities.

4. Conduct research and evaluation to improve Latino mental health outcomes. El Futuro engages in research when it furthers our mission and helps the people we serve. Our goal is to expand our applied research, program evaluation, and dissemination activities in strategic ways, developing into a national model and resource center for Latino mental health and substance use treatment services. To achieve this goal, we actively partner with RTI International and the national-level Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. Other historic partners in this work include the National Institutes of Mental Health, University of North Carolina, Duke University, and more.

El Futuro employs a comprehensive suite of licensed, mental health professionals, all of whom are bilingual and are trained in immigrant-welcoming (trauma-informed, culturally-sensitive) mental health treatment approaches. Our clinicians include psychiatrists, licensed professional counselors, licensed clinical social workers, case managers, and more. We've grown our staff over time in order to meet the growing need for our services.

In our 17-year history, we've also developed a strong sense of trust (confianza) in the Latino community - a population that has historically been hesitant to seek care from many community organizations. This trust helps to overcome mental health stigma and other treatment barriers, and means that the majority of our referrals come from friends and family of our clients.

We also rely on strong and diverse partnerships to carry out our work. From community partners who refer clients for our services and partner on specific programs, to funding organizations and individual donors, we've developed a robust network of support. Funding partners include those at the local, state, regional, and national levels, including support from the Oak Foundation, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, RTI International, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, National Institutes of Mental Health, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, The Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust, The Duke Endowment, and many more. These diverse partnerships ensure consistent sources of revenue outside of the typical, insurance billing process, making it possible for us to provide a safety net resource to those without adequate insurance coverage who are most vulnerable in our state.

In El Futuro's 17-year history, we've provided proven mental health treatments to over 10,000 Latino individuals in North Carolina. We typically serve 2,000 Latino clients each year.

Last year, ninety-two percent (92%) of our clients experienced clinical improvements or stabilization, meaning fewer symptoms of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and more. Seventy-seven percent (77%) of our clients experienced functional improvements or stabilization. Ninety-eight percent (98%) of our clients reported satisfaction with our services.

To ensure that we meet our bold strategic goals, we're actively growing the following programs and services:

- Evidence-based mental health treatment approaches proven particularly effective in low-income Latino communities, including Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CPT), Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), Structured Psychotherapy for Adolescents Responding to Chronic Stress (SPARCS), and more.
- Telehealth and other brief treatment approaches, ensuring more Latino families gain access to the care they need when they need it most.
- Cutting-edge group treatments for trauma survivors, including Trauma-Sensitive Yoga, dialectical behavioral therapy-based skills groups, and more.
- The La Mesita (NC Latino Mental Health Provider) Network, including webinars, case consultations, learning cohorts, and more.
- Training and technical assistance for other providers, through residencies and internships, La Mesita, the ECHO model, and more.