Making the Invisible Visible: Reducing Disparities Via Personally Relevant Interventions

The mental health needs of people of color are largely invisible because they underutilize mental health services and are not the focus of research. These mental health utilization disparities have persisted for at least six decades. Neither evidence-based treatments nor culturally-adapted treatments adequately address the individual needs of people of color. People of color may not use mental health services because services are not: (a) personally relevant; or (b) accessible. Our neuroscience data suggest that pragmatic, problem-solving approaches are the most personally relevant for Asian Americans, the least likely ethnic group to use mental health services. In this talk, Dr. Hall will discuss the development of the Mind Boba app to make psychotherapy more personally relevant and accessible to Asian Americans.