Promoting mental health equity in Orange County, CA: The role & vision of community health workers and navigators

Research Updates

Updated January 2025
This study examined how the pandemic affected mental health for low-income, immigrant and communities of color, focusing on both community strategies and the pivotal role of Community Health Workers (CHWs). We found that the pandemic worsened existing mental health issues, while isolation, trauma and social, economic and political impacts also contributed to new mental health issues. This research highlights the critical role of CHWs and community-driven strategies in promoting mental well-being, while also addressing the mental health needs of CHWs themselves. Our findings emphasize the need for sustained funding and policy support to integrate CHWs into mental health services and for community-level resources that are structurally and culturally sensitive to meet significant mental health needs for low-income communities of color.

Proposed Research and Background

CHWs are trusted members of communities who are burdened with health, social, and economic injustices and who are underserved by health care and public health systems. As critical members of the public health workforce, CHWs hold multiple roles, including accompanying community members in understanding and addressing health, social, and economic issues; addressing barriers to health and well-being; and promoting civic engagement to address community priorities. In the COVID-19 pandemic, CHWs played an essential role in addressing barriers to accessing COVID-19 information; services such as testing and vaccination; and resources to address growing economic and social challenges affecting low-income communities, communities of color, and immigrant communities. CHWs are an essential part of the public health workforce as COVID-19 resources decline and as we focus on recovery.

Through the Orange County Health Equity COVID-19 Community-Academic Partnership, this project seeks to understand mental health issues affecting residents with whom CHWs worked throughout the pandemic; how CHWs supported residents with mental health issues; ways in which CHWs connected residents with community, state, and federal mental health resources, and visions for the promoting mental well-being for low-income communities, communities of color, and immigrant communities.

We will address these goals by:

1. conducting discussions with CHWs to understand community mental health issues and CHW-led efforts to support residents in addressing mental health issues;
2. analyzing discussions and interviews that our partnership is actively collecting regarding CHW-led efforts to address injustices in the COVID-19 pandemic; and
3. using discussion-based strategies to map out a vision for addressing barriers to mental health. We will share findings through published papers and discussions with residents and other stakeholders.

Collaborators

• Orange County Health Equity COVID-19 Community Academic Partnership
• Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance
• Latino Health Access