Cultural-Competency Training for Staff Serving Hispanic Families with a Child in Psychiatric Crisis

As part of a research demonstration project focusing on children's psychiatric crises and their families, a cultural-competency training program was developed for staff delivering home-based crisis Intervention. The authors describe the training program, which was intended to teach culturally competent practice with Hispanic children and families. Training consisted of a day-long workshop, follow-up meetings with staff, and a half-day ‘booster’ session six months after the initial workshop. The workshop covered essential elements of Hispanic cultural diversity, values, family structure, interpersonal relations, child-rearing beliefs and practices, and points of interventions. Follow-up meetings provided counselors with the opportunity to discuss Issues and experiences not covered in the first workshop and allowed trainers to monitor the counselors' incorporation of culturally competent principles of practice. In the booster session, trainers addressed issues raised by counselors at the follow-up meetings in a more organized manner and addressed new, emergent issues.