Engaging Latinos through the integration of cultural values and motivational interviewing principles

A rapidly growing Latino population challenges the U.S. mental health system. Despite a high service need, significant disparities in access to care have resulted in patterns of low utilization and frequent dropout. Furthermore, natural ambivalence as individuals access a traditionally underutilized source of support may further compromise the effective therapeutic engagement of Latinos. Thus, practitioners and researchers seek to identify means by which to enhance service delivery for this historically underserved population. Following the demonstrated efficacy of motivational interviewing with highly ambivalent client populations and drawing on the authors' clinical experiences with monolingual Spanish-speaking Latinos in a community mental health setting, this article describes the application of motivational interviewing principles to 3 Latino cultural values and offers clinical practice recommendations to help create a client-centered and culturally congruent therapeutic milieu. Keywords: Latino mental health, therapeutic alliance, motivational interviewing, cultural values, engagement