Creation of an Undergraduate Minor in Spanish for Mental Healthcare for Psychology Majors

FAIN: AKA-285863-22

Benedictine University (Lisle, IL 60532-2851)
Rafael Iglesias (Project Director: September 2021 to present)
Patricia Somers (Co Project Director: April 2022 to present)

The creation of an undergraduate minor in Spanish for mental healthcare, which would integrate knowledge, methods, and skills from the humanities, social sciences, and health sciences. 

Benedictine University is proposing the creation of an undergraduate level minor in Spanish for Mental Healthcare. This interdisciplinary collaboration, including the Departments of Language and Literature, Psychology, and the Department of Nursing and Health, aims to equip undergraduate students with cultural and linguistic proficiency in Spanish for those pursuing mental health careers in a variety of settings. This program would enhance the student learning experience, allowing psychology majors to be more competitive in the marketplace as interpreters in healthcare and mental healthcare facilities, or as inter-cultural mediators in a variety of healthcare settings. This program provides an opportunity to build career preparation into the humanities while addressing a national workforce need, thus addressing the issue of relevance in the humanities.