Salinas clinic brings mental health care to Latino, farmworker families

By Roseann Cattani

Published October 2, 2026

Amid vibrant artwork and colorful cultural touches, a new mental health clinic focused on Latino and farmworker families has opened in Salinas.

The ALAS (Ayudando Latinos a Soñar) clinic at 947 Blanco Circle, Suite B was celebrated with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Sept. 30 and a welcoming proclamation from Monterey County Supervisor Luis Alejo.

"This is a momentous day," said Dr. Belinda Hernández-Arriaga, founder and CEO of ALAS, which provides culturally responsive mental health care and wraparound services geared to suit the needs of Latino and farmworker families.

ALAS is expanding from Half Moon Bay where practitioners developed their approach through years of work with farmworker communities during COVID-19, wildfires, flooding and the 2023 mass shooting at two plant nurseries in Half Moon Bay.

Understanding the need

During an interview before the ceremony, Hernández-Arriaga and Dr. David Martinez, ALAS Director of Mental Health and Associate Professor at University of San Francisco, said the new facility will help fill a gap for early intervention services for people experiencing mild to moderate mental health challenges.

"On average, Latinos wait 15 years between symptom onset to the first time they interact with mental health care," Martinez said. "We know that early intervention when symptoms start developing is going to yield better outcomes long-term."

Martinez said on average, nationally, about 50% of Latinos, especially Spanish-speaking Latinos, that attend mental health services drop out after the first session of treatment.

"At ALAS, we have seen that over 70% actually remain in treatment for 12 or more sessions," he said.

Martinez, who has become connected to the broader immigrant community through his participation in the steering committee of the Monterey County Immigrant Services Network of Empowerment (CISNE), said Monterey County has resources for people with severe mental illness, but fewer options for early treatment, particularly for Latino residents.

Martinez and Hernández-Arriaga pointed to findings from Monterey County Community Health Needs Assessment, which identified mental health care as one of the region’s top community needs.

"The mild to moderate resources are very limited to non-existent, so we're trying to come and fill some of that gap," Martinez said.

Culturally responsive care

ALAS began building relationships in Monterey County last summer after being invited to participate in a Migrant Education conference.

During the conference, ALAS heard directly about the mental health challenges facing migrant and farmworker families and the need for services that are accessible, culturally responsive and grounded in the community.

"Making treatments culturally responsive and adapted and attuned to the communities we're serving are going to actually yield better outcomes," Martinez said.

Hernández-Arriaga said that approach means incorporating art, music, food, or group therapy and bringing services to people where they are.

"It looks like going out to provide services where they live, or in the field with our bus, using groups, using music, art — using culture as a centerpiece," said Hernández-Arriaga, adding that farmworker mental health has been traditionally under researched.

During their work with farmworker survivors after the Half Moon Bay mass shooting, ALAS developed a music therapy program based on the accordion, an instrument popular in Latin music, "to help the community heal," Hernández-Arriaga said.

Over the last year, ALAS has worked with local organizations, health providers and community leaders to better understand the needs of families in the Salinas Valley.

A major partner in this effort has been the Monterey County Office of Education.

Constantino Silva, senior director for Migrant Education at the Monterey County Office of Education, said ALAS will bring much-needed services to the migrant worker community, which faces unique challenges.

"Because they have a migratory lifestyle, there's a lot of instability," Silva said. "A lot of uncertainty with regard to housing, transportation, finances, health care and there's a lot of mental health issues to take care of."

The ALAS approach also looks at the way mental health is being shaped and influenced by broader social conditions, including immigration-related stress, economic uncertainty and fear of family separation.

"We recognize mental health stressors beyond the biological," said Hernández-Arriaga, who is a therapist and founded ALAS in 2011 after treating children who were scared of being separated from their family though deportation.

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She said that ICE raids and the videos that circulate within immigrant communities provoke anxiety, worry and fear.

"What we are seeing in those communities is a public health crisis—it is not only political at all," Hernández-Arriaga said.

She said that research has shown that sensory interventions can play a critical role in helping people heal from trauma.

The ALAS model builds on those evidence-based practices by delivering them through a cultural lens, which can also help break down barriers for people who may be hesitant to seek treatment.

"When you have música, comida, when you have the accordion, the singing, the paintings, all of that is sensory, but it's culturally sensory," Hernández-Arriaga said. "We're naming that ALAS because it's part of our medicine, part of an intervention and part of healing."

Over years of working with farmworker communities, ALAS has found that concerns about basic needs such as food, housing and safety often take precedence over mental health care. To address those challenges, the organization works with community partners to connect families with supportive services and other essential resources.

Initially, services in Salinas will be offered at no cost through grant funding from organizations including Kaiser Permanente and Life Science Cares.

Over time, ALAS plans to become a Medi-Cal provider and expand services beyond individual counseling to include group therapy, family therapy, couples counseling and community education programs.

Referrals will come both from partner organizations and individuals seeking help directly.

The 'Equity Express' mobile mental health bus

ALAS also aims to bring its "Equity Express" mobile mental health bus to Monterey County.

The bus functions as a mobile counseling and resource center, bringing therapy, internet access, educational resources, food, art programs and other services directly to farmworker communities and agricultural fields.

"We come to their place where they live so that they can access our services that way, rather than asking them to come to our office," Martinez said.

He said transportation remains a significant barrier for many farmworker families, particularly those living in rural or isolated areas.

By bringing services directly to farms and residential communities, the bus reduces travel challenges, addresses concerns about transportation and security, and makes it easier for people to access care after the workday.

In Half Moon Bay where the bus is based, farmworker communities may be located 20 to 40 minutes from the ALAS offices, Martinez. The bus helps meet families where they are and increases access to services for people who might otherwise struggle to obtain care.

ALAS's work is supported by philanthropic partners, including Kaiser Permanente, Life Science Cares and The Westly Foundation, which have helped ALAS expand its work in Monterey County, including its Farmworker Equity Express.

"This place says you are welcome here," said Silva in the new ALAS offices. "Come here, and we will get to know you, and we will help you find treatment that is going to be valuable to you and is going to be impactful to your life and to your family's life."