In March 2026, Tellegacy founder Dr. Jeremy Holloway has and will have the privilege of engaging two very different yet deeply connected professional audiences: licensed counselors in New Mexico and emergency medical professionals serving rural communities in South Dakota.
These events reflect a broader reality in modern healthcare: meaningful care does not happen within professional silos. It happens through communication across disciplines, cultures, generations, and lived experiences.
When that communication improves, healthcare improves.
A Conversation with Counselors Across New Mexico
On March 5, Dr. Holloway delivered a virtual pre conference session for the New Mexico Counseling Association Annual Conference, titled:
“Cross Cultural Communication and Intergenerational Solutions to Social Isolation and Loneliness in Mental Health Practice.”
The New Mexico Counseling Association is one of the state’s leading professional organizations dedicated to advancing the counseling profession and strengthening mental health services across New Mexico. The organization supports professional development, advocacy, and continuing education opportunities for counselors working in schools, clinical settings, community organizations, and private practice.
The 2026 conference marked the association’s 70th anniversary, bringing together professionals from across the Southwest for learning, collaboration, and reflection on the future of mental health care.
Participants in the pre conference session included:
Licensed professional clinical counselors
School counselors
Social workers
Community mental health professionals
Counseling educators
Graduate students and emerging practitioners
Several participants also represented specialized areas of practice, including:
Cancer counseling
Early intervention therapy
Private practice for adolescents
Community college counseling programs
School social work on the Navajo Nation
The diversity of professional roles and cultural backgrounds immediately reinforced one of the central ideas of the session:
Mental health practice is inseparable from cultural understanding and intergenerational awareness.
A Conversation That Became a Dialogue
Rather than functioning as a one way lecture, the session quickly became an active dialogue among professionals reflecting on their experiences.
Participants shared perspectives on how counseling work differs from their expectations when they first entered the field.
One participant reflected:
“Every day is different, but the times we can engage and help others makes it worthwhile.”
Another commented on the structural challenges that sometimes interfere with client centered care:
“I didn’t realize how much what we do is controlled by the bosses and not truly client focused.”
Others emphasized the emotional complexity of the profession:
“More rewarding but more stressful than I thought it was going to be.”
Throughout the discussion, professionals explored topics such as:
Cultural humility in counseling practice
Intergenerational trauma and healing
The role of listening in therapeutic relationships
The need for more research focused on older adults
Gaps in counseling curricula related to aging and marginalized communities
One practitioner noted that despite the rapid aging of the U.S. population, older adults remain underrepresented in counseling research and professional training.
Another participant highlighted the need for greater cultural awareness in clinical work:
“Cultural humility and knowledge are needed.”
The discussion repeatedly returned to a central idea:
Communication across differences is not optional in healthcare. It is essential.
Why Cross-Cultural Communication Matters in Mental Health
Mental health professionals often work with individuals whose backgrounds differ significantly from their own.
Differences may include:
Cultural identity
Language
Religious traditions
Migration histories
Generational experiences
Socioeconomic conditions
Community norms
Without thoughtful communication, these differences can create misunderstandings that affect treatment, trust, and outcomes.
Participants shared examples ranging from cultural expectations around eye contact to differing family structures and approaches to emotional expression.
These conversations reinforced an important reality in healthcare:
Technical training alone is not enough.
Providers must understand the cultural context in which people live.
They must also remain open to learning from the communities they serve.
As one participant reflected during the session:
“Being open really does help us learn and grow.”
Extending the Conversation to Rural Emergency Medical Services
Later this month, Dr. Holloway will bring the same focus on communication and understanding to another professional audience.
On March 26, 2026, he will serve as the keynote speaker for the Northeast South Dakota Area Health Education Center Monthly EMS Webinar Series, presenting:
“Cross Cultural Communication.”
This series provides continuing education for emergency medical professionals serving rural communities across South Dakota.
The Northeast South Dakota Area Health Education Center (NESD AHEC) works to strengthen the healthcare workforce through education, training, and professional support for providers practicing in rural and underserved regions.
Through partnerships with community organizations, academic institutions, and healthcare agencies, NESD AHEC provides programming that helps develop a sustainable healthcare workforce while improving care delivery in rural settings.
The webinar series focuses particularly on EMS providers who operate on the front lines of healthcare.
Emergency medical professionals face situations that demand immediate action, rapid assessment, and effective communication under pressure.
In many cases, they are the first point of contact between a patient and the healthcare system.
The Importance of Communication in Emergency Care
EMS professionals encounter patients during some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives.
In rural regions, providers may serve communities where cultural traditions, language differences, and historical mistrust of institutions influence how people interact with healthcare systems.
Communication in these environments becomes more than an interpersonal skill.
It becomes a matter of safety.
When communication breaks down, several risks emerge:
Misinterpretation of symptoms
Failure to recognize cultural health beliefs
Reduced patient trust
Delayed care decisions
Breakdowns in transitions of care
Cross cultural communication helps EMS providers navigate these situations with greater awareness and sensitivity.
It also strengthens collaboration between emergency responders, hospitals, community health organizations, and behavioral health professionals.
Communication and Clinical Research
Both events this month also highlight a topic that continues to gain importance in healthcare research.
Clinical research increasingly depends on effective communication across disciplines and cultures.
Modern research teams often include:
Physicians
Nurses
Behavioral health specialists
Community health workers
Social scientists
Public health researchers
Patient representatives
These teams frequently work across institutions and communities with different cultural contexts.
Communication becomes the foundation that allows research teams to design studies, recruit participants, interpret findings, and translate knowledge into clinical practice.
Poor communication can result in:
Low participation from marginalized populations
Research findings that do not reflect real world experiences
Misinterpretation of patient needs
Reduced trust in research institutions
When communication improves, the opposite occurs.
Research becomes more inclusive.
Health systems become more responsive.
Patients feel seen and heard.
A Growing Movement Toward Human Centered Healthcare
Both the NMCA conference and the NESD AHEC webinar represent something larger happening across the healthcare landscape.
Professionals are increasingly recognizing that human connection is central to effective care.
The work of counselors, EMS professionals, researchers, and healthcare educators intersects in a shared goal:
Understanding people as whole human beings rather than isolated medical conditions.
This approach aligns closely with Tellegacy’s mission to strengthen intergenerational understanding, reduce social isolation, and promote meaningful human connection in healthcare settings.
Programs like Tellegacy demonstrate how conversations across generations can deepen empathy, improve communication skills, and inform better care practices.
When healthcare professionals hear life stories from older adults, they begin to understand the cultural, historical, and emotional contexts that shape health decisions.
These insights travel with them into clinical practice, research design, and patient interactions.
Looking Forward
The conversations taking place this month across New Mexico and South Dakota illustrate an encouraging trend in healthcare education.
Professionals are actively seeking ways to communicate more thoughtfully across cultural, generational, and disciplinary boundaries.
Counselors are reflecting on how culture shapes mental health practice.
EMS providers are expanding their understanding of communication in emergency care.
Researchers are exploring how diverse perspectives improve scientific discovery.
Each of these efforts moves healthcare closer to a more responsive and humane system.
For Dr. Jeremy Holloway and the Tellegacy community, these engagements are part of an ongoing commitment to strengthening the human connections that make healthcare possible.
Because at the center of every healthcare interaction is a simple truth:
Care begins with understanding.
