Forging pathways and breaking barriers for Latinx students

The Ignite Institute : CHANGE HAPPENS NOW!

On this episode we have a conversation with Dr. Martha Hernández, an incredible young leader with extensive clinical and research experience working with underserved populations in schools, universities, community mental health clinics, and hospitals. As Director of the Spanish Training Track and Associate Director of Family Support Services of Ronald McDonald House, her service work includes advocacy on behalf of the children, adolescents, and couples there, as well as families residing there with a critically ill child. Her immigration work includes working with attorneys so that immigrants are not re-traumatized on their journey. Dr. Hernández is a recipient of the American Psychological Association Henry Tomes Award for the Advancement of Ethnic Minority Psychology, an award given once every 8 years to an emerging Latinx psychologist who has made many significant contributions toward the empowerment of ethnic minority individuals and communities. She talks with us about growing up in the Central Valley of California, fighting for her rights and for those around her, and how being a Latinx female, born to Mexican immigrant parents, and a farm worker with her parents, has shaped her life and leadership journey. She sheds light on the importance of creating educational opportunities where there is almost no emphasis on higher education for Latinx communities, the critical need to use our voices when so much is at stake in these times, and how finding resource in a collective can be helpful.

To get more content like this and learn more about ignite and PSR go to psr.edu.