RMHC Student Carmen Florez Receives Josie Torralba Romero Scholarship in Tribute to CFS Research Assistant Professor Linda Callejas

Carmen Florez, a Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling master's student, received a tribute scholarship through the National Latino Behavioral Health Association's (NLBHA) Josie Torralba Romero Scholarship Fund. The Dr. Linda Callejas Scholarship was awarded to Florez in tribute of Dr. Callejas’ work in community-derived and defined programming for diverse U.S. Latinx communities.

The NLBHA scholarship program supports outstanding Latinx students pursuing degrees in behavioral health fields with a focus on increasing Latinx representation in behavioral healthcare.

"In my experience, Latino culture does not seem to place a lot of importance on behavioral health," said Florez. "When we combine this with the frequency of Latino communities often being of low socioeconomic status, we see a pattern that demonstrates mental and behavioral health counseling and treatments lacking accessibility in our community."

Ms. Florez has been working with Latinx adolescents during her practicum and is receiving a certificate in Marriage and Family Therapy. She hopes to one day find a way to combine her passions in order to both work in Private Practice but also directly advocate for and support marginalized communities around the country. Her involvement with NLBHA began as a means to find a path towards advocacy and lobbying efforts.

"I grew up struggling with my own mental health at times and often felt as if I had nobody to turn to. I do not want anybody to feel that way in the future, and I know that dedicating my life to this field and pursuing this career would open the doors of counseling to so many people in need. I have always been fascinated by people and our interpersonal as well as intrapersonal conflicts and love the idea of being there to help people through these," added Florez.