Putting Students to Work: Spanish Community Service Learning as a Countervailing Force

Linguistic and cultural competence are essential components of mental health infrastructures for US Latinos, many of whom are monolingual Spanish speakers or have limited English proficiency. However, few human service providers are bilingual, and they are overtaxed. To fill this gap, agencies can look toward the Spanish program at their nearest college or university. Traditionally, Spanish students learned mostly about literature in a classroom or in study abroad. Today, Spanish community service learning (CSL) connects language students with local Spanish-speakers in order to form mutually beneficial relationships. This chapter defines Spanish CSL and offers human service providers guidelines for creating effective community—university relationships. When done well, Latinos benefit when Spanish CSL students support the work of mental health professionals.