Email: carolina.velez-grau@bc.edu
Human Behavior and the Social Environment
Adolescent mental health, adolescent suicide, mental health services, suicide prevention, social connectedness, task-sharing of mental health, ethnocultural minorized youth, and Latinx communities.
Dr. Vélez-Grau is a Colombian-born social worker who joined BCSSW in 2022 after completing her Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellowship at New York University's Silver School of Social Work. Her work as a researcher and social work practitioner centers on the lives of ethnocultural minoritized adolescents and their families, particularly Latinx youth. Dr. Vélez-Grau's research examines individual and contextual risk and protective factors associated with suicidal behaviors among these young people and access to mental health services. Her ultimate goal is to develop approaches to prevent suicide that go beyond clinical settings and out in the community and are effective and affordable.
With funding from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Diversity Supplement, Dr. Vélez-Grau is currently examining 1) the role of social connectedness and burdensomeness on the development of suicide ideation among Latinx and Black youth; 2) documenting Latinx and Black adolescents' perceptions of mental health services and barriers and facilitators to mental health engagement; and 3) the effectiveness of an engagement intervention in decreasing suicide ideation via changes in connectedness and burdensomeness among these youth.
In addition, with funding from the Dean's Upstream Seed Funds at New York University's Silver School of Social Work, she examined the sociocultural views that Latinx and Black youth ascribed to the theoretical constructs of connectedness and burdensomeness to be able to ground a suicide theory in the experiences of ethnocultural minoritized youth.
Dr. Vélez-Grau is a licensed clinical social worker with over 15 years of clinical experience working with youth and families from ethnic and racial minoritized backgrounds. She directed the Home-Based Crisis Intervention Program (HBCI) at New York-Presbyterian Children’s Hospital and worked as a Family Specialist in the American Red Cross September 11 Recovery Program. She has offered workshops and consultations to community agencies, parents, and adolescents about mental health, suicide, and service engagement. She has also trained mental health providers in Mexico and Nicaragua to provide (virtually) emotional support in Spanish and native languages to mothers of children and adolescents who experienced toxic stress due to their migratory status in New York City. She is currently a consultant in a project at Columbia University Medical Center examining the impact of telehealth on youth engagement in psychotherapy.
Dr. Vélez-Grau received a Ph.D. in Social Work from Columbia University School of Social Work, a Master of Social Work degree from Columbia University School of Social Work, and a Psychology degree from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, Colombia.
La Dra. Vélez-Grau es una trabajadora social nacida en Colombia que se unió a BCSSW en el 2022 después de completar su Beca Postdoctoral de Provost en New York University Silver School of Social Work. Su trabajo como investigadora y practicante de trabajo social se centra en la vida de los adolescentes de minorías étnicas y sus familias, en particular los jóvenes Latinos/as/x. La investigación de la Dra. Vélez-Grau examina los factores de riesgo y protección individuales y contextuales asociados con los comportamientos suicidas entre estos jóvenes y el acceso a los servicios de salud mental. Su objetivo final es desarrollar intervenciones efectivas y asequibles para prevenir el suicidio que vayan más allá de los entornos clínicos hacia la comunidad.
Con fondos de Diversity Supplement del Instituto Nacional de Salud Mental (NIMH, sigla en ingles), la Dra. Vélez-Grau está examinando: 1) el papel de la conexión social y el sentirse una carga para otros en el desarrollo de la ideación suicida en los jóvenes Latinos/as/x y Africano Americanos (LAA); 2) las percepciones de los jóvenes LAA acerca de los servicios de salud mental y las barreras y facilitadores para la participación de estos adolescents en los servicios de salud mental; y 3) la efectividad de una intervención para incrementar la participación en servicios de salud mental y disminuir la ideación suicida a través de cambios en la conectividad y el sentirse una carga para otros en los jóvenes LAA. Además, con los fondos internos (Dean's Upstream Seed Funds) de New York University Silver School of Social Work, la Dra Vélez-Grau examinó los puntos de vista socioculturales que los jóvenes LAA atribuyen a los conceptos teóricos de conexión así como sentirse una carga para otros y proponer desde lo anterior una hipótesis del suicidio basada en las experiencias de jóvenes que son minorías étnicas.
La Dra. Vélez-Grau es una trabajadora social clínica licenciada con más de 15 años de experiencia clínica trabajando con jóvenes y familias de minorías étnicas y raciales. Dirigió el Programa de Intervención de Crisis en el Hogar (HBCI, sigla en ingles) en el New York-Presbyterian Children's Hospital y trabajó como especialista familiar en American Red Cross September 11 Recovery Program. Ha ofrecido talleres y consultorías a agencias comunitarias, familias y adolescentes sobre salud mental, el suicidio y la participación en los servicios de salud mental. También ha capacitado a proveedores de salud mental en México y Nicaragua (virtualmente) para brindar apoyo emocional en español e idiomas nativos de Mexico y Centro America a madres de niño/as y adolescentes que experimentaron estrés tóxico debido a su estatus migratorio en la ciudad de Nueva York. Actualmente es consultora en un proyecto en Columbia University Medical Center que examina el impacto de la telesalud en la participación de los jóvenes en la psicoterapia.
La Dra. Vélez-Grau recibió un Ph.D. en Trabajo Social en Columbia University School of Social Work, una Maestría en Trabajo Social en Columbia University School of Social Work y una licenciatura en Psicología de la Pontificia Universidad Javeriana en Bogotá, Colombia.
Vélez-Grau, C., & Alvarez, K. (2024). Looking at Global Mental Health Models to Prevent Youth Suicide in the United States. Journal of Adolescent Health. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1054139X24003823
Vélez-Grau, C., Magan, I. M., & Gwadz, M. (2023). The burden of not belonging: A qualitative study of the applicability of the interpersonal theory of suicide constructs of belongingness and burdensomeness to ethnocultural minoritized youth. Behavior therapy, 54(5), 777-793.
2024-2028
NIMH K23 Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award
Task-Shifting: Brief Interpersonal Psychotherapy by Youth Mentors for Latinx Youth Suicide Prevention (K23MH137405)
PI. Total Cost: $787.968
2020-2022
NIMH Diversity Supplement to Engaging Black Youth in Depression and Suicide Prevention Treatment within Urban Schools: A Preliminary Study.
(R34MH119290)
Total cost: $91,532
Project summary
This project, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (K23 MH137405), seeks to examine a task-shifting approach to suicide prevention among Latinx youth. Task-shifting is the distribution of tasks from specialized providers in clinical settings to lay workers in schools and other community-based settings. By using task-shifting and leveraging partnerships with youth community centers in the Boston area, we seek to move suicide prevention to the communities where youth are and reduce disparities in care.
The problem
In 2021, 46 percent of Latinx youth in the United States felt so sad or hopeless that they stopped doing their usual activities, 30 percent reported poor mental health, and 22 percent reported suicide ideation. Suicide ideation is a risk factor for suicide attempts and death by suicide. Key risk factors for suicide ideation among Latinx youth include depression symptoms, low sense of belongingness, and feeling like a burden to others. Structural factors, such as low access to care, even when they report suicide behaviors, place them at high risk. Latinx youth are often uninsured and mistrust healthcare providers. Given that one in four youth younger than age 18 in the United States is Latinx, increasing access to care before suicide behaviors onset in this population will make a public health impact.
The solution
Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Adolescents (IPT-A; 12-16 sessions), an effective evidence-based intervention tested with Latinx youth, improves interpersonal functioning and, in turn, reduces depressive symptoms and suicide ideation. Brief IPT-A (BIPT-A; 6-8 sessions) integrated into community settings and delivered by lay providers (i.e., task-shifting) offers an opportunity to be used as an upstream suicide approach (before suicide behaviors onset) and close the Latinx youth mental health access gap. However, research is needed to examine the feasibility and acceptability of BIPT-A task-shifted to youth community centers where Latinx youth learn and play.
In summary, this project addresses NIMH's strategic plan by investigating the adaptation and implementation of an evidence-based mental health intervention in real-world settings with ethnic minoritized populations. The intervention has the potential to be used as a preventive approach to suicide, build community capacity, and increase mental health equity.