ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – Javier still remembers the pain and fear he felt reading a note written by his 13-year-old daughter.

“Where she wrote about how she was tired of this life and she was thinking about ending her life,” he said.

The single dad reached out to Ser Familia for help. The metro Atlanta non-profit has provided family, social, and mental health services to the Latino community for the past 23 years.

“We have seen a tremendous spike after the pandemic in adults, but in kids in particular and teens,” said Belisa Urbina, CEO and co-founder of Ser Familia.

Urbina says the mental health crisis among Hispanic kids and teens is more dire than ever.

Before the pandemic, the non-profit says 20 to 25 percent of kids and teens they worked with expressed suicidal thoughts.

Today, that number is closer to 60 and 65 percent.

Only making the problem worse, Urbina says, is a growing need for Spanish-speaking counselors, social workers, and psychologists in Georgia.

“There’s less than a hundred who are fully licensed and can speak Spanish and the disparity is absolutely unthinkable,” she said.

To provide more support, Ser Familia has doubled the number of case managers per office. Also, offering group therapy sessions for teens.

But their work is far from over.

“Usually, we tend to think it’s not happening to me, it’s not my problem. At the end of the day, every child is my child… And we want to make sure that every child in all of our communities has the chance to be their best self,” said Urbina.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please call the suicide crisis line at 988. For more information, click here.

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