Armando Morales
Armando Torres Morales, a UCLA professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences, who researched issues of concern to the Latino community and used the findings to advocate for change, including increased mental health services and an end to abusive police practices, died on March 12, 2008. He was 75.
In his work as a psychiatric social worker, Morales was an early proponent of increased mental health care services in the Latino community. As the population of Latinos in Los Angeles County increased, the numbers using mental health services remained low. The low usage, particularly among undocumented immigrants who feared raids and deportation, did not bode well for the future, Morales warned.
Morales worked to create facilities that would help draw in those in need of services. From 1966 to 1969 he was director of Mental Health Consultation Services, East Los Angeles Branch of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. And in 1972, working as a consultant for the Veterans Administration, he set up a satellite service in East Los Angeles.
By 1977 Morales was director of what was then known as the Spanish-Speaking Psychosocial Clinic, UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute and Hospital. From 1979 to 2000 he was director of the clinical social work department and director of the Clinical Internship Training Program at the institute.
Six years after the Watts riots, Morales' research indicated police-community relations were at "the lowest point ever" in East Los Angeles. In 1973, Morales self-published "Ando Sangrando: I Am Bleeding," which examined conflict between Mexican Americans and the police. Morales, a member of the county Human Relations Commission, advocated gathering statistics on the ethnic and racial composition of shooting victims and police officers, which he argued could influence police training.
Born in Los Angeles on Sept. 18, 1932, Morales graduated from Roosevelt High School and later served three years in the Air Force. After his discharge, Morales earned undergraduate degrees at East Los Angeles College and what is now Cal State L.A. He earned a master's degree in social work in 1963 and a doctorate eight years later, both from USC.
In 1977 Morales co-wrote a textbook, "Social Work: A Profession of Many Faces," now in its 11th edition. Over the years he was often called as an expert court witness, including on the issue of riot mentality in the 1993 Reginald Denny beating trial.
Morales is survived by his wife, Cynthia Torres Morales; daughter Christina Mia Torres Morales; sons Rolando and Gary; and grandsons Vincent and Rocco Morales. (Source: Los Angeles Times)
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