Gladys Lopez, a recent graduate of Brigham Young University’s Public Health Master’s program, discovered a powerful link between mental health and substance abuse while volunteering at a nonprofit in Riverton, Utah.
Lopez was initially guided toward public health because of her desire to serve minority populations and make resources available to them. This desire also stems from her own experiences, and the lack of resources provided to her Mexican immigrant parents. “It was a very real and very scary thing. And I know that multiple people are in that similar situation as well,” she said.
Creating a tremendous impact through a great opportunity, Lopez through the Foundation for Family Life, a non-profit for men previously incarcerated due to substance abuse. While working at this organization, Lopez realized that these men had made mistakes and were genuinely trying to improve. “If you look hard enough at the person, you’re gonna see past what’s on the front and you’re gonna see something beautiful on the inside,” said Lopez.
“Thinking back to my experience working with these men, I think a lot of it was a lack of awareness,” she said.
Social determinants decide, in a lot of cases, who does and does not get involved in substance abuse. These factors include education, socioeconomic status, gender, race, and ethnicity. To combat the substance abuse that some experienced due to socioeconomic factors, Lopez started to teach.
“When I would speak to them, they would say that this was all they’ve ever known. It wasn’t till they hit that breaking point when they realized that they had resources in their backyard,” she said.
The Public Health model of substance abuse addiction focuses on the factors that are out of control for a lot of these men. Mental health plays a large role in substance abuse and how intense it can be. “Mental health does play a big part in it, and I think they're using substance abuse in order to cope with these mental health disorders,” she said.
Through this internship, Lopez realized that family health and behavioral health are more intertwined than she initially thought. “That allowed me to realize that I wanted to focus on behavioral health and then use that and integrate it into the family aspect,” she said.
As Lopez pursues her doctoral program at San Diego State, she hopes to bridge the gap between the two. Furthermore, Lopez shared that she wants to be a professor one day and work with educating Latino populations.
Lopez advises others to get involved and to network with professors on opportunities. “I would advise you to go talk to them because that’s where the door will open and it will lead to more opportunities. So don’t stay silent,” she said.
To learn more about Lopez’s experience at the Foundation for Family Life, listen here: Looking Beyond the Surface with Gladys Lopez
