Welcome back to My Teen Pregnancy Story Part 2!

Did you all know that Less than 2% of teen moms earn a college degree by age 30?

Roughly 229,715 teens between 15 and 19 became pregnant in 2015. Latinas have the highest teen-pregnancy rate of any group. The birth rate (per 1,000 girls) for white teens in California is nine, compared to a rate of 29 for Latina teens.

As I mentioned though, the rates for teen pregnancies in our community is drastically decreasing and I think a large part of this is due to the openness and education that we are sharing as generations go by.

In this episode, I go into what it was like to confront my ex's family, being in college with a son, what my schedule looked like, my dreams and wishes as a 20-year old, how I was stigmatized as a teen mom, and I give advice to parents who have teen mom daughters. There is often control because of their age, but I talk about the disservice and identity formation that is occurring. Please rate and review the podcast on iTunes/Apple Podcasts! 

Resources: 

Planned Parenthood for Parents: https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/parents 

If you would like to donate to the podcast, you can do so on Venmo @LatinxTherapy, or Zelle [email protected] . All proceeds will go to the community projects.

Teen pregnancy is defined by someone who has a child between the ages of 13-19. About 750,000 teens get pregnant each year, mostly between the ages 17 to 19 (Kost, et al., 2010). 

While Latinxs currently have the highest teen birth rates, they have also had a dramatic recent decline in rates. Since 2007, the teen birth rate has declined by 58% for Latinx, compared with declines of 53% for African Americans and 47% for Caucasians.

In this solo episode, I share my personal experience with getting pregnant at age 19 and becoming a single mother during my undergraduate schooling in Santa Barbara, CA. I discuss general and personal mental health effects, cultural beliefs and common mentalities that Latinx teens and their parents experience. 

I also explore the barriers to sex education, such as family beliefs, shame, and Catholicism. I provide advice to young girls, parents and therapists.

Next time I will continue with my story and talk about the collectivistic views with family postpartum  adjustment and the high status that is achieved with childbearing in the Latinx culture. 

Resources:

Teen Line https://teenlineonline.org/ : 310-855-4673, or text TEEN to 839863

Birth Control Methods: https://mydoctor.kaiserpermanente.org/ncal/structured-content/#/Health_Topic_Birth_Control_Choosing_a_Method.xml

Tool- Find the Right Method That Works for You: https://mydoctor.kaiserpermanente.org/ncal/birthcontrol/#/ 

Find Various Program for Parents & Teens: https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/preventing/promoting/parenting/pregnant-teens/ 

WIC in CA for Free formula, diapers, healthy food, lactating classes & more: https://wicforfamilies.org/ 

Statistics were referenced from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr67/nvsr67_01.pdf

Kost K, et al. (2010). U.S. Teenage pregnancies, births and abortions: National and state trends and trends by race and ethnicity. Guttmacher Institute.

Welcome to the second break the stigma episode of this season! Today we talk with an actress and mental health advocate, Noemi Gonzalez.

Noemí Gonzalez is a first-generation immigrant from Mexico and a first-generation actress from within her family. Noemi is best known in her standout role as “Soli Gomez” in the hit series East Los High on Hulu. You might have also seen her in films such as Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones, The Vatican Tapes, Traces and recurring in television shows such as The Kicks, Rosewood, Gang Related and more. She has also been featured in theatre productions, several commercials, and was hand-selected to be an ABC Diversity Showcase Participant. Currently Noemi is making her daytime debut as Mia Rosales on The Young and The Restless.

Today, we dive into her story of strength as it relates to her family and experience with therapy. Noemi opens up about her older brother’s diagnosis with bipolar and schizophrenia, and her younger brother’s diagnosis with autism, and where they are all at now in life.

****TRIGGER WARNING: ABUSE (sexual)****18:22 and on.

She talks to us about her experience with her childhood religion and how her congregation took care of the sexual abuse she encountered as a minor. Noemi shares exclusively with us about the stigma and shame about attending therapy for those in the acting industry.

Here are the time markers:

5:42 is where Noemi’s background story begins

6:49 sidetracked by my wedding

8:20 begin to talk about her family’s view of mental health &

10:39 we talk about the effects of being parentified & how our culture sees someone as “functioning” when they do not have a diagnosis

18:22 growing up Jehovah's Witness & sexual abuse, DCFS & the start of therapy experience

22:42 my dog interrupts the interview briefly

23:50 Noemi talks more about experience and view of therapy

25:28 challenges of being an  actress

27:33 the evolution of the stigma in the acting industry about therapy & the worries of being a high profile/celebrity client and being in therapy

30:16 advice for families experiencing a mental illness diagnosis

35:45 boundaries Noemi needed to maintain your mental health & examples

If you or a family member are struggling with your mental health, or have questions about it, contact the National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI) 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or email at [email protected].

If you’d like to reach out to Noemi, you can find her on Instagram @iamnoemigonzalez

Check out Latinx Therapy’s new website filled with resources! Follow us on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook: @latinxtherapy 

If you are a therapist that works with the Latinx community, and are in private practice, be sure to sign up to become an official member of Latinx Therapy.

En este segmento, hablamos de lo que se significa ser AfroLatinx, ejemplos de discriminación y micro-agresiones, y los varios efectos de la salud mental con este tema.   Ser AfroLatinx significa ser negro/a o de afrodescendientes, y de un país de Latino América. Para otros, se significa ser uno de los países AfroLatinx como República Dominicana, Nicaragua, Honduras, Cuba, Haití, Puerto Rico, o Guatemala.

Conocemos a Jersey Garcia: Ella es una consejera familiar y de parejas, Coach de Relaciones, y mediadora familiar, que vive en el sur de la Florida, y disfruta ayudando a mujeres y parejas afrodescendientes y latinxs, a navegar la experiencia humana de relacionarse desde un espacio de honestidad, felicidad y conexión. Su pronombre preferido es “ella” y las 5 cosas que generalmente le traen una gran sonrisa a su cara son: acurrucarse en la cama con sus hijos; podcasts; onomatopeyas dominicanas; reggaetón; y mangú con queso frito.

Recursos:

Visiten la página de Jersey para saber más sobre sus servicios: www.jerseygarcia.com

Un articulo del 2017 de el ser Afri Latino (via Al Día News):  http://aldianews.com/es/articles/culture/el-ser-afro-latino/45509 

My guest today for episode 7 is Jersey Garcia. In this episode, she talks to us about her realities of identifying as AfroLatinx, and looking more of African descent than Latinx, a struggle often society is too afraid to bring up, but is much too common. There is a saying “no soy de aqui, ni soy de alla” that refers to: I’m neither from here, nor there. 

She opens up about the discrimination she has faced due to her skin color, and the mental health effects of racism and colorism. We also go into the mentality that the Latinx race must be “improved” by dating someone of a lighter skin complexion.

She provides us with the unique perspective of the insecurities of being AfroLatinx as a mental health professional. Jersey ends the segment by providing a beautiful message to anyone that is feeling split between two identities.

Get to know her: Jersey Garcia is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Relationship Coach, and Family Mediator living in south Florida, who enjoys helping Black and Latinx women and couples, travel the human experience of relating from a space of honesty, happiness, and connectedness. Her preferred pronouns are she/her and the 5 things that usually bring a big smile to her face are: bed cuddles with her children; podcasts; slang words in Spanish; reggaetón music; and some soft mangú with fried cheese on top.

Resource:

• Learn more about Jersey and the services she provides by visiting: www.jerseygarcia.com
• 7 Afro-Latinx Writers Whose Books We Should Be Reading- According to Fierce: https://fierce.wearemitu.com/fierce-boss-ladies/7-afro-latina-writers-whose-books-you-should-be-reading/

Follow Latinx Therapy on any social media site! Instagram/Twitter: @LatinxTherapy. Facebook: @OfficialLatinxTherapy

Children's Destigmatizing tees are 35% off! Order by emailing [email protected]. Adult sizes are still available for $22. 

Today, I discuss how it is to grow up in businesses from a very young age with two individuals from different backgrounds, and who are also not mental health professionals. I speak with Pamela Barba from Georgia, an Ecuadorian native with a florist family business, and Zaira Gomez from Pennsylvania, whose parents are from Mexico own a pizza restaurant. Collaboratively, we share our personal experiences with what it is like to grow up in the business realm, and share our feelings about the struggles and worries of being a small business owner. 

We discuss the guilt we feel in the present when we practice self-care, the hope of our parents taking over a business we did not want, and also explore how to handle fears for our parents and what it is like to have problems within family members. Most importantly, we discuss how the business world shaped us to be the adults we are now.  

 To find out more about Pamela Barba from Georgia (Florist business):

Social Media Usernames: @MsPamelaBarba @VamosLadies

 www.vamosladies.com www.mspamelabarba.com

To find out more about Zaira Gomez from Pennsylvania (Restaurant business)- Twitter: @ZairaMex1

Visit www.facebook.com/officiallatinxtherapy to get the schedule of all the topics for this week's Latinx Therapists Online Invasion on Facebook in honor of Latinx Heritage Month. 

To provide feedback on the podcast and this episode, please submit your information via this survey: HTTPS://WWW.SURVEYMONKEY.COM/R/6RLHXQ2

This is the first season’s Break the Stigma segment! 

Today will be hearing Vivian’s story with grief and loss. We talk about her losing her mom in elementary school, and later as a very young adult she lost someone that was like a mother to her, Vivian’s grandmother. She shares how she adjusted and her journey with therapy.

Vivian Nuñez is a writer and founder of Too Damn Young, a community and resource for teens and young adults who have lost someone they love. She lives in New York, and one of the company she writes for is Forbes. Her advocacy work is focused on dismantling the stigma around grief specifically and mental health as a whole. 

To find more about Too Damn Young: http://toodamnyoung.com/

Contact Vivian Nuñez via Instagram: @vivnunez

Latinx Therapists Online Invasion – This week on Instagram! Topics are in English and Spanish

Mon., Sept. 24- Visit @counselingbradenton for Anxiety, @themiamitherapist for Codependency

Tues., Sept. 25- Visit: @drLydianaGarcia- Sexual Assault (10am PST)

Wed., Sept 26- @nicoleserranolmft- Stress Management tips (6PM PST)

Thurs., Sept 27- @MindfulQuestRC - Intergenerational Trauma in Spanish 5:30PM PST

                   @LatinxTherapy about trauma and PTSD at 10AM (PST)

Friday, Sept. 28- @DrJanetBrito for Sex Therapy questions! 3PM (PST)

If you can’t make it at the indicated time, youll have 24 hours to replay their live video.

Send your questions to my Instagram @LatinxTherapy, or via email [email protected]

Next week this event will take over on Facebook!

To support the podcast, please subscribe, rate and leave a review on Apple Podcasts or iTunes! Or contact me if you are interested in the De-Stigmatizing tee ([email protected]). 

¡Bienvenido al episodio número 4! Este tema se ha solicitado desde que comenzó el podcast, así que me alegro de que se haya ofrecido Renato Pérez a tener esta conversación. Habrá muchos más temas relacionados con la comunidad LGBTQIA+ en otros episodios y futuras temporadas. 

El machismo y el identificarse como LGBTQ es un tema importante porque en nuestra cultura, el machismo forma parte de la raíz de la homofobia.

El machismo es tóxico y un tipo de masculinidad tradicional que generalmente está influenciado por 4 factores: 1- los hombres no deben ser femeninos; 2- los hombres deben ser respetados y admirados; 3- los hombres nunca deberían mostrar miedo; y 4- los hombres deberían buscar el riesgo y la aventura.

Nuestro invitado es Renato Pérez, trabajador social clínico con licencia en Los Ángeles, California. En este episodio, da más detalles sobre el machismo y la historia de cómo salió del closet a su padre. Como terapeuta afirmativo de LGBTQ +, apoya a los clientes de cualquier identidad o expresión de género. Actualmente trabaja para el Departamento de Salud Mental y tiene un consultorio en Sherman Oaks, California.

Para obtener más información sobre Renato Pérez: https://renatoperez.com/

Para apoyar el podcast, visite Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?c=1659021

Recursos:

CENTRO LGBTQ: HTTPS://LALGBTCENTER.ORG/ 

El Proyecto Trevor: (866) 488-7386

PFLAG: HTTPS://WWW.PFLAG.ORG/HOTLINES

 LÍNEA DIRECTA GLBT: HTTPS://WWW.GLBTHOTLINE.ORG/

Welcome to episode 3! This topic has been requested since the podcast started, so I am glad Renato Perez joined me in on this conversation. There will be many more topics related to LGBTQIA+ in the episodes and seasons to come. 

Machismo and identifying as LGBTQ is an important topic because in our culture, machismo is part of the root of homophobia. 

Machismo is a traditional and toxic type of masculinity that in usually influenced by 4 factors: 1- men should not be feminine; 2- men must be respected and admired; 3-men should never show fear; and 4-men should seek out risk and adventure. 

Our guest is Renato Pérez, Licensed Clinical Social Worked in Los Angeles, CA, who goes a bit more in depth about machismo and history with coming out to his father. As an LGBTQ+ Affirmative therapist he supports clients of any gender identity or expression. He currently works for the Department of Mental Health and has a private practice in Sherman Oaks, CA. 

To learn more about today’s guest, Renato Pérez visit: https://renatoperez.com/ 

To support the podcast, visit Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?c=1659021

Episode Sponsored by Creative Little Gems:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/Creativelittlegems

Resources:

LGBTQ CENTER: HTTPS://LALGBTCENTER.ORG/

PFLAG: HTTPS://WWW.PFLAG.ORG/HOTLINES

GLBT HOTLINE: HTTPS://WWW.GLBTHOTLINE.ORG/

Reported Effects of Masculine Ideals on Gay Men: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2902177/

Homosexuality & Latin American Identity w/info on Regions: http://www.jesusanthonybaez.com/blog/article-2

Welcome back everyone! So many things have been going on during the last two months.

It was highly requested to record the When La Chancla Crosses the Line episode into Spanish, so we did! Let us know your feedback!

Here is the link to the survey if you are interested in hearing a specific topic: HTTPS://WWW.SURVEYMONKEY.COM/R/6RLHXQ2 

In honor of Latino Heritage Month I will be hosting an online invasion of Latinx Therapists starting Sept 17th until Sept 21st,  we will be on Reddit doing Ask Me Anything as it relates to topics such as couples counseling, immigration/immigration evaluations, anxiety, PTSD, mental illness, parenting, maternal mental health and chronic illness. If you have any questions about these topics, please stay tuned on any Latinx Therapy social media site to get the link to ask questions to therapists from all over the United States. 

There will be other topics also available. Here are the dates and platforms where they will run:

Reddit: Sept 17-Sept 21

Instagram live: Sept 24-Sept 28

Facebook Live: October 1-October 5

If you’d like to contribute to the projects and the podcast, please consider donating via Venmo at Latinx Therapy or by check. The PO BOX is 7595 in Burbank, CA 91505. Remember, if you need resources or someone to talk to, please contact me at   [email protected] for resources. 

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?c=1659021

Venmo: Consider donating via Venmo at Latinx Therapy to @latinxtherapy

Instagram: www.instagram.com/latinxtherapy

Facebook: www.facebook.com/officiallatinxtherapy

Twitter: www.twitter.com/latinxtherapy