Angela Diaz: Hi. My name is Angela Diaz, and I would like to talk today about why it's so 

important to integrate medical and mental health services. Research shows that 

only 20% of adolescents and 10% of young adult that have a mental health 

needs get services. So there's a tremendous scarcity of mental health services.

Angela Diaz: Developmentally, young people do not necessarily know how to label their 

needs. They may be depressed but they may not know that they are depressed, 

so it is very important to integrate services and to work the way that we work 

with them because by us asking and screening them for different things, then 

we find out that they need mental health, and we are right there working with 

the medical people and the mental health people so that person can benefit 

from that.

Angela Diaz: Having the integrated primary care and mental health services really remove 

barriers. It is hard for any person, including adult to be going to different places, 

different sites for different types of services. There are issues about 

transportation, geography, learning the different policies or the different 

systems, learning that they have to show up at this time or that time. So really 

this integrative services make it easier for the young person to be able to get all 

those services that they need.

Angela Diaz: When you are doing intake, let's say for mental health in many places, people 

have this really rigorous process and assessment that they have to take all these 

information. And sometimes when people are spending all that time trying to 

gather the information, the young person feel that they are not paying attention 

to them, they're not being engaged. And when you work with teenagers, the 

number one thing is engaging them. So you really need to balance the needs to 

collect whatever information you have to collect, but at the same time, keeping 

in mind and making sure that that young person is really and truly engaged, and 

feel that they are the most important thing right now for you, that you're paying 

attention to them. Because the first purpose, the purpose of the first visit is to 

get a second visit, and then a third, and then a fourth. You really want to engage 

the young person.

Angela Diaz: So whatever you need to do to achieve that, that's what you need to do. And 

maybe the form can be completed in multiple visits or something like that. I also 

work with young people who are homeless, who have been sex-trafficked and 

when I know that, I know that it will be hard for these young people to 

necessarily come regularly. So we have to ... Or to come back if I say, if they go 

to a place where they say, "You need an appointment for mental health." We 

know that these young people, it's really, really hard for them to return.

Angela Diaz: So we need to give them as many services as possible and they will see the 

mental health person right then and there. And the mental health person has to 

be very flexible, not only in term of balancing whatever information they need 

while trying to engage the young person, but also understanding that, that 

young person is not necessarily going to come back on a regular basis. That they 
may come back sporadically, that they may come back for medical services and 

then they will need to see them, all those things are really important.