MSPP Lucero Legacy

The MSPP Lucero Latino Mental Health Program is named to honor the memory of Dr. Cynthia Lucero who expressed her passion for psychology, for volunteerism and for running with the same energy and determination she lived every day of her too-short life. Dr. Lucero completed her doctoral degree at MSPP before the 2002 Boston Marathon, during which she collapsed and died soon thereafter. We honor her commitment to serving the Latino community by recruiting, training, supporting and graduating gifted professionals who will offer culturally sensitive care to Latino men, women and children nationwide. Your philanthropic support helps us expand the Lucero Latino Mental Health Program by offering financial aid to more students who will respond with compassion, care and competence to the mental health needs of this underserved, quickly-growing Latino community.
Ways you can support the Dr. Cynthia Lucero Latino Mental Health Program:
- Participate in one of our Corporate Sponsorships.
- Make a gift now!
For more information, please contact Karen Friedland at karen_friedland@mspp.edu, 617-327-6777 x419.

The Dr. Cynthia Lucero Center's Latino Mental Health Program (LMHP) offers a unique opportunity for Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology (MSPP) students who are interested in working with individuals from Latino cultures. Through intensive immersion in Spanish language and Hispanic cultures, students are prepared as culturally sensitive clini cians with expertise to meet the particular mental health needs of this rapidly growing and underserved segment of the U.S. population.
Today, one in every eight individuals living in the U.S. is Hispanic or Latino, and by 2050, one-quarter of the population will be of Hispanic descent. Despite this looming popula tion explosion, only about one percent of the nation's psychologists identify themselves as Latinos. The need for professionals, Latino and non-Latino, trained to care competently for Latino patients/clients is already critical and will only increase in severity over the next few years.
Given that many Latinos in the U.S. have limited English proficiency, the ability to provide services in Spanish is essential in providing competent services to this population. Even among Latinos who are fluent in English, many communicate more effectively in Spanish. There are also unique and richly diverse values, beliefs and traditions among the various Latino cultures, as well as common experiences of immi gration and diversity as Latinos in the U.S., that must be well understood by providers in order to make competent clinical assessments and implement effective interventions.
Given the complex interaction of social and cultural factors in the mental health of this population, it is not surprising that most Latinos who seek mental health services do not return after the first visit, primarily because of a lack of "cultural fit" with the provider.

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Nonprofits & Activism

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• Sports Psychology
• Mental Health
• Humanitarian
• Latino
• Boston Marathon
• Ecuadorian
• Latino Leader
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• Leadership