Bienestar: Trauma Services for Immigrant Students

Bienestar, a Spanish word meaning "wellbeing", provides an array of mental health services to recent immigrant students who have experienced psychological trauma due to community violence or traumatic events. The objective of the Bienestar Program is to reduce trauma symptoms and improve academic outcomes for all students identified.

Components of Bienestar include:

Step care services to address issues of traumatized adolescents: case management, screening, and mental health interventions (CBITS).

Coordination and training of existing mental health providers, with additional support from MSW graduate students providing evidence-based services.

Development and implementation of a staff education program and parent support services related to trauma.

Caring Across Communities: Bienestar

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) awarded a grant to the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) to participate in a national program to reduce emotional and behavioral health problems among local children in need, particularly those from low-income immigrant and refugee families. The new program, Caring Across Communities: Addressing Mental Health Needs of Diverse Children and Youth, provides LAUSD support mental health programs and services over the next three years. In Los Angeles, the Caring Across Communities project provides services to children from the growing Mexican and Central American immigrant community. The project is one of 15 selected by RWJF for the program from a nationwide pool of applicants.

Robert Wood Johnson

 The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works with diverse groups of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change. For more than 30 years, the Foundation has brought experience, commitment and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those it serves. When it comes to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, the Foundation expects to make a difference in your lifetime.

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