CSDE Affiliates Jody O. Early (Nursing and Health Studies) and Carmen Gonzalez (Communications) in partnership with colleagues Janessa Graves (School of Medicine)  and Julia Simoes (Communication) recently published a research brief,  “Advancing Community-Based Mental Health Promotion: An Evaluation of a Bilingual Lay Mental Health Navigator Program“, in the peer reviewed journal, Health Promotion Practice.  Early, Gonzalez, and co-authors presents evaluation results of Mental Health Matters of Washington’s Peer Mental Health Navigator (PMHN) program, which provides six-weeks of bilingual training to lay community members who go on to provide peer mental health support, education, and resource navigation Researchers used a non-controlled pre- and post-design with a 12-month follow up survey across seven cohorts of Spanish and English-speaking peer navigators (n = 141) over three years.  Results demonstrated significant improvements across outcome measures, with the largest effect sizes observed in self-efficacy (d=0.70-0.96). Qualitative analysis revealed high program satisfaction, with participants particularly valuing comprehensive resources, skilled facilitation, and culturally responsive content. Twelve-month follow-up indicated sustained engagement and skill application. The findings support increased investment in community-driven, culturally and linguistically attune  mental health promotion strategies that go beyond clinical interventions.