Cristina Chipriano, LCSW, Dougy Center's Director of Equity & Community Outreach and Melinda Avila, MSW, CEO of OYEN Emotional Wellness Center, are committed to changing the landscape of grief support for Latino families. They bring personal and professional grief experiences to the work of ensuring that every Latino family has access to dual language grief support that honors their cultural values.  

We discuss:

• Cristina & Melinda's personal connection to this work
• Why it's important now, in 2024, to have this conversation
• What is unique about grief & grief support in the Latino community
• The concept of family in the Latino community 
• How grief challenges our sense of self and identity
• The ways people have been taught to suffer in silence
• How culture informs grief and grief informs culture
• Why it's critical for services to be truly bilingual
• The barriers to accessing services
• The first thing service providers should be thinking about when meeting with a Latino family
• Cristina & Melinda's hopes for the future of grief support for Latino families

This episode is the first in our 2024 three-part series highlighting the voices of communities who have historically been underrepresented in the grief world. The series is part of an ongoing collaboration between Dougy Center and The New York Life Foundation. We are deeply grateful for New York Life Foundation's tireless support and advocacy for children and teens who are grieving.