LMHANJ Consulta Hour: Lunch and Learn

🥗 ABOUT THE SERIES

LMHANJ Consulta Hour: Lunch and Learn is our monthly space to grab your lunch, learn something useful, and connect with colegas who get it. We meet on Zoom on the last Wednesday of each month, with occasional date changes around the holidays. A fellow provider presents on a clinical topic, followed by time for questions and conversation. Come ready to share or come just to listen. Both are welcome here.

💬 THIS MONTH’S TOPIC

Latino Men, Identity, and Mental Health: Understanding and Supporting the Men in Our Communities

Latino men often face unique pressures. Expectations about being a provider, a protector, and someone who does not show weakness can sit alongside the strains of family responsibility, work, acculturation, and, for many, immigration. These expectations can shape whether a man recognizes distress, expresses these pressures in healthy ways, or seeks help.

In this one hour conversation, three Latino psychologists discuss how male identity, cultural values, and colonization intersect with mental health. The panel will draw on professional and lived experience to explore how cultural concepts such as machismo, caballerismo, orgullo, humildad, and familismo show up in the lives of Latino men, and how these values can be both a source of strength and a barrier to well-being and seeking support. Panelists will also share practical, culturally responsive approaches for engaging men in care, including ways to open conversations, clarify personal goals and values, reduce stigma, and build trust.

✨ WHAT YOU WILL TAKE AWAY

How cultural values and gender norms influence the way Latino men experience and express distress

Common barriers to help seeking among Latino men

At least two culturally responsive strategies for engaging Latino men in support or treatment

👥 WHO SHOULD ATTEND

Mental health professionals, students, community and faith leaders, educators, and anyone who wants to better support Latino men.

🎙️ PANELISTS

Milton A. Fuentes, PsyD is a licensed psychologist and a Professor of Psychology at Montclair State University. A past President of the National Latinx Psychological Association and a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, his work centers on diversity science, pedagogy, and motivational enhancement.

Enmanuel Mercedes, PhD is a licensed counseling psychologist in New Jersey and New York with over 15 years of clinical experience, and founder of E. Mercedes Consulting and Services, LLC. Born in the Dominican Republic and raised in Newark, he works at Zufall Health Center coordinating integrated behavioral health care for a largely immigrant community, and is a longtime advocate for expanding mental health access in historically underserved communities.

Ricardo Martinez, PhD is a licensed clinical psychologist who has worked with children, adolescents, and adults since 1991, specializing in trauma, including work with combat veterans and survivors of sexual abuse. He holds clinical positions at the Department of Veteran Affairs Bloomfield Vet Center and Hoboken University Medical Center, and his training spans trauma treatment, mindfulness based psychotherapy, forensic psychology, and Latino mental health.

📅 DETAILS

Wednesday, November 18, 2026

12:00 PM to 1:00 PM

Via Zoom

Free and open to everyone. No CEUs are offered.

Register below and the Zoom link will be sent to you. If you are a member, log in before registering.

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