Systemic Family Therapy and Community-Based Participatory Research: Addressing Health Disparities in a Brazilian...

It is expected that half of the world's population will experience some type of mental illness during their lives, with less than 25% of those receiving any form of treatment. With increasing need and insufficient mental health providers to meet those demands, we need innovative approaches that provide care for larger numbers of people with differing needs and cultural expectations. This paper presents a community-based participatory research approach lead by systemically trained clinicians and researchers used to address the mental health needs of a vulnerable underserved community in Brazil. The results highlight how this approach: (1) fosters community trust, (2) empowers community members to address their own mental health needs, and (3) leads to the interventions that improves mental health outcomes and social change of the community being served.