ERIC Number: EJ1021436
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013-May
Pages: 2
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0164-775X
EISSN: N/A
Capacitar: Building Mental Health Capacity in Rural Guatemala
Angoff, Liz
Communique, v41 n7 p6, 8 May 2013
By the end of last school year, Liz Angoff was frustrated, defeated, and ready to quit. She had been working as a school psychologist in a large urban public school district for 12 years and the gravity of the issues, coupled with the scarcity of resources, had taken its toll. She decided to flee the country in search of perspective, and applied to Doctors Without Borders. After a week in rural Guatemala, she realized she needed to shift her lens to a different model of psychological intervention. She thought that perhaps there was a way to have the same impact as a medical volunteer if she focused more on training the local staff, and less on direct service to individuals. In this way, even if the community viewed formal psychological services as taboo, there still could be ways to find healing. Angoff describes her experiences providing mental health services in rural Guatemala and provides a few key concepts for empowering teachers, community members, and parents who work with students daily.
Descriptors: Mental Health Programs, Capacity Building, Foreign Countries, School Psychology, Counseling Services, Counselor Teacher Cooperation, Counseling Techniques, Rural Areas
National Association of School Psychologists. 4340 East West Highway Suite 402, Bethesda, MD 20814. Tel: 301-657-0270; Fax: 301-657-0275; e-mail: publications@naspweb.org; Web site: http://www.nasponline.org/publications/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Guatemala
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A