Nonprofit gets license to provide court-ordered counseling

SAN LUIS, Ariz. — Campesinos Sin Fronteras, a nonprofit organization that offers social services to low-income residents, is now providing court-ordered counseling and treatment for those convicted of drunken driving or domestic violence.

In December, the state Department of Health Services approved a license to Campesinos, which has five counselors on staff to serve clients referred by the courts.

Based in San Luis, Campesinos is conveniently located to help residents in the south county fulfill the terms of their court cases, said Geovana Colosio, director of the agency's Center for Family and Behavioral Health.

Until now, counseling and treatment services available in Yuma were not immediately accessible to those residents in the south county, and “on many occasions people ended up committing another offense by not complying with the judge's order,” Colosio said.

One problem, she said, involved south county residents who were ordered to go to counseling in Yuma as part of their sentences for drunken driving. But their driver's licenses also were suspended.

“In various instances, those people were committing another infraction by driving on a suspended license,” said Colosio.

Language proved a barrier for Spanish-speakers attending counseling sessions done in English, she added.

Campesinos is now doing the counseling in Spanish as well as English at what Colosio called affordable rates for clients at its San Luis site at 788 E. B St.

Colosio said Campesinos' goal is to make services more accessible to south county residents and meanwhile reduce the likelihood of repeat offenses.

“What is important is that we are Hispanics providing the service to Hispanics,” said Colosio, “We understand our people's situation.

“We come from a very different legal culture, and in cases such as domestic violence, many of us don't understand that here the legal definition is broader.”