Latina activist aims to shed light on people of color with mental health issues

News – The Badger Herald

With the hopes of showcasing mental health struggles faced by marginalized communities, Dior Vargas, a Latina mental health activist, shared her personal experience with depression to a crowd of University of Wisconsin students as part of a mental health lecture.The Thursday event, titled “The Intersectionality of Mental Health,” focused on the absence of minority representation in mental health issues. The event, sponsored by the Multicultural Student Center and University Health Services, is part of the ongoing Social Justice Speaker Series.
Growing up Latina affected her journey with depression, Vargas said. Typically, it is not common to express problems of mental illness within her respective community.
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“No matter where you come from, there are going to be negatives and positives,” Vargas said.
At a young age, Vargas’ parents separated, which led to her first suicide attempt.
When Vargas began high school, she started to search for the source of her troubles and ended up ordering a book on depression — what she called a “first step” in her recovery process. The second step included talking to a counselor for several weeks and then starting medication.
Though she had to struggle alone for a long time, later on, Vargas said she found she could help others by becoming a mental health activist and even a volunteer crisis counselor.
“In silence, there is a sense of dignity that is misplaced,” Vargas said.
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While at first she felt she could not talk to her family about her mental health struggles, Vargas ...

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