Texas is struggling to diversify its mental health workforce as the state becomes less white

Lynette Carrillo felt alone. Looking around at her small doctoral psychology class at Texas Woman’s University in 2021, she realized she was the only Spanish speaker.At that point, Carillo had almost grown used to it. After nearly a decade pursuing degrees at Angelo State University in San Angelo and TWU in Denton, she could count on one hand how many professors and classmates came from diverse backgrounds. It’s just how the mental health field is, she thought.“For a long time, I didn’t know that there were clinicians who spoke Spanish or who came from diverse backgrounds like me,” she said. “In the Latin culture, community is important, so I had to put in that extra effort to find common ground with my classmates. I had to have that mindset with myself in order not to feel like I was so alone.”As the daughter of Mexican immigrants, Carillo knew it would be challenging to become one of the rare Spanish-speaking psychologists in Texas. Her parents didn’t go to college, and she never had any mentors to tell her which fellowships to pursue or which conferences to attend.Even the mental health curriculum was a challenge for Carrillo, because the medical terms are...