Group Names: Giselle Garcia, Ernesto Ochoa,

Diego Ortiz, Ivanna Martinez, Alina Sanchez

San Ysidro Health Center: Roberto Suarez

Questions:
1. What specific areas, regarding mental health, do you work in?

2. Do you find any connections between/linked drug abuse and mental health?

3. What kind of stigma do you find revolves around mental health and what action do you
take to prevent that stigma?

4. What type of clients do you work with?

5. What are some actions you think are needed to provide a clearer unbiased view of mental
health?

6. what should an adolescent or guardian of adolescent know about drug addiction to

prevent it?

7. Do some drug users have prior encounters in their adolescence?

8. What makes it hard for drug users to abandon drug use?

 9. Do you think that people pick up drugs as a way to self medicate themselves after a
traumatic experience?

10. How is drug use being addressed today in the U.S?

11. Why do you think it is important to have an open mindset when dealing with patients?

12. Why do you think people frown upon drug users?

Transcribed Interview:

Ernesto: We can just jump straight in.

Interviewee: Okay

Ernesto: What specific areas regarding mental health do you work in?

Interviewee: This is a child and adolescent patient behavioral health clinic so we provide therapy
to children, teengaers, and families. We just get referred by the schools or by the health centers
because they're having either severe behavioral or emotional problems that require talking to
somebody.

Ernesto: Do you find any connections between drug abuse and mental health?

Interviewee: Yea. We do have a substance abuse council who is part of our team and a lot of
times let's say with teenagers or people that are using drugs or alcohol it's usually a way of self
medicating because they are either really depressed or really going through anxiety or trauma,
and that's just the way that they’ve learn cope. It's not the very healthiest way but it just develops
into a problem. We see a lot of people with both diagnoses of substance abuse and also
depression.

Ernesto: You mentioned unhealthy methods to cope with it. What would be some healthy
methods?

Interviewee: Well healthy methods would be well not using. Being able to talk to somebody, to
get help, and sometimes with depression there's medications that can help that are legal and it's
only to help them during the period that they’re having a hard time, it's not to get them addicted
to another type of medication. Sometimes with depression, the symptoms are so severe that we
need something to help us and to be able to cope and to be able to deal with whatever it is that's
impacting us.

Ernesto: We know mental health has a lot of stigma and looking for help of an addict. Do you
find a lot of issues with people trying to come forward and ask for help because of stigma?

Interviewee: Oh yea. Definitely. I would say definitely in the Latino community which is who
we serve, there's still a lot of stigma regarding mental health. You know, thinking it is for crazy
people, the attitude you have is crazy, and that its lack of education. You know we all need help
help at one point in our lives. It doesn’t mean we're crazy.

Ernesto: What do you think can be done to lessen the stigma?

Interviewee: I think education. You know i’ve been working here for almost 32 years and you
know there’s still the stigma, yeah it’s gotten better, we’re providing more and more services in
the schools and even the stigma that teachers have. Schools can also have a stigma regarding
mental health so it’s also educating the schools regarding that it doesn’t mean you’re crazy
because you need help, we all need help, even teachers.

Ernesto: Do you find that some people who come in are of younger age?

Interviewee: Here we see kids and teenagers and their families.

Ernesto: Do you see a correlation between the family impacting their health or do you think its
an outside source like bullying or would it be more like problems at home?

Interviewee: I see it all. A lot of times there's things happening at home that's impacting the child
or the teenager and you know sometimes parents come with their kids and they want us to fix
them and it doesn’t work that way, we work with family. Let’s say you’re coming for counseling
services. It’s okay for me to work with you but you go back home and if your family, you know
if there’s problems at home, they need to also learn how to deal with that so as you improve the
situation at home, the situation for the child, the teenager, becomes better. So we do a lot of
family work, it’s not just with the kids, the teenagers. And as far as bullying, yeah, you know,
whats going on at school impacts the kids, the teens that we work with, that a lot of times there's
a lot of stuff happening at home that’s not at school, impacting their ability to function that
carries on to school. And again, substance abuse is all just connected.

Ernesto: What do you think influences teens the most? Like for risky behavior do you think its a
biological aspect or do you think it's more of, for example, the media or what goes on at home?
Interviewee: I think it’s a combination. You know what goes on at home impacts teenagers. The
media has a very strong influence. What’s going on in the community, in the neighborhood, at
school, all those things impact teenagers. Very good questions!

Ernesto: Thank you! How do you think drug abuse is being addressed in the United States today?
Do you think there’s a lack of representation or do you think there’s more that can be done?

Interviewee: I think there’s a lot more that could be done. I think there’s, like here in this area of
San Ysidro, there’s not a lot of services for substance. I mean we have substance abuse
counseling. Let’s say you’re a client and you have some substance you’re starting to use, but we
have a counselor that can work with you to help you out, to, again learn more healthy ways of
coping with whatever it is you’re dealing with, but if you, let’s say, you’re addicted to some
drug, what we will do is we’ll refer you to McAlister in Chula Vista and there they have groups
for teens and they have services specialized in anything with teens. If they have substance abuse
issues, if you need like a detox center, you know, some place you can go for to be able to, you
know, detox. Get the drugs out of your system. Again, there’s nothing here, we would need to
refer you to somewhere in Chula Vista also. So there’s not a lot of services. I think there’s more
than there was in the past. Right now we have a substance abuse counsel working here for a full
time basis which is more than we had, let’s say, 5 years ago.

Giselle: I was gonna ask, you mentioned that there’s not a lot of resources available like in this
area specifically, that’s why you refer to a different area. Do you think that also correlates to
there not being enough funding from the city or not enough funding from the health care services
that can provide for the people in the area?

Interviewee: Yeah, it comes down to funding. I think, again, little by little there’s been more and
more. I think you know, that’s a huge issue, there needs to be a lot more and hopefully there will
be. As we see, I think they’re seeing that there’s a huge problem. They’re looking at, when I say
they I mean our administration or the government is looking at putting more programs or more
funding between substance abuse. And there’s a huge name, as there is in mental health.

Ernesto: As you know in the United States, there is an epidemic right now. How do you think
that impacts the teenagers? Do you see a rise in opioids?

Interviewee: We see more marijuana rise in this area. Yeah, there’s a rise and it’s an issue, yeah,
it is a problem. Here it’s not something that we see a lot.

Giselle: Why do you think that is? Why do you think the marijuana is more used?
Interviewee: I think it’s more accessible. I think just the fact that it’s legal now, it makes it easier
to get and it’s more accepted and it’s always been a problem, I don’t see it getting better.

Ernesto: As you said you mentioned marijuana, what do you think about alcohol use? Do you see
that as often as marijuana, a little bit less, or in general, how do you see it?

Interviewee: With the kids we see it’s more marijuana. I know there’s alcohol use, but it seems
to be the drug choice seems to be more marijuana.

Giselle: Do you know any of like the main reasons why the youth prefers marijuana? Like if it’s
just for following a trend or maybe something is happening at home? Do you know why that
trend seems to happen a lot?

Interviewee: Again, I think it’s because it’s all around, it’s easier to get, it’s what your peers are
maybe using.

Ernesto: Recently there’s been an increase of e cigarettes being used within teenagers
community. Do you see that often or do you not deal with tobacco?

Interviewee: The vape thing is what we’ve been seeing more and more at schools. It is an issue, I
don’t think it’s, again, it’s not a healthy thing the teens are doing. It just leads to other addictions.

Ernesto: What do you think is something that you would tell a struggling adolescent or a parent
who believes their son or daughter is abusing drugs? What’s something you would tell someone
to raise awareness?

Interviewee: I think for parents it’s becoming knowledgeable as far as what’s out there and
letting know what the signs, if they know what their son or daughter is using and getting some
help because I think in the beginning it’s a lot easier than waiting until the adolescent is addicted
so the earlier to catch it, the better. To get help, the sooner the better. I think if a family has good
communication, good relationships, they’re talking, I think that helps a lot, teenagers, kids, to
make good choices. I think the family’s dynamics has a big impact.

Ernesto: Do you think recreational drug use leads to addiction? Or would you consider
recreational drug use as addiction?

Interviewee: Recreational drug use I think can lead to addiction. I think everybody is different. I
think the fact if there’s substance abuse in the family, let’s say, for example my father was an
alcoholic, he was a drug addict, so it was something I knew that, you know, if I went that
direction I could easily become a drug addict or alcoholic so you know, recreational use can lead
to that. Maybe somebody that’s able to, you know, have a dream every now and then, you know,
does recreational alcohol use. It may not lead to alcoholism but I think it depends, everybody is
different.

Giselle: To close off the interview, do you have any words you think we could use for our peers
to know about like mental health for any help if they need it? Do you have any advice for
looking out into resources, either for parents or just other teenagers or youth?

Interviewee: Well there’s a lot of help. I mean here, this is a county contract, we work with kids,
teenagers that are in need of behavior house services. It’s more severe, let’s say, we see a lot of
teenagers that are severely depressed, suicidal, cutting, severe anxiety, going through some kind
of trauma, so there’s help out there. People don’t always know we provide services at the
schools, like in San Ysidro school district. We go to San Ysidro Middle, elementary schools, we
see students there on campus or we can see them here, in the clinic. We’re open Mondays and
Tuesdays we’re open until 7 for parents at work, services in spanish, all my staff is spanish
speaking. 92% of the families we serve are spanish speaking. Low income, so you won’t have to
have money to be able to get help. The medical can cover that. For families with very low
income, it’s a very small fee. It includes therapies, psychiatrist services, medications, so there’s
help out there. I encourage, you guys are doing an awesome job as far as coming and asking
questions and being interested. There’s a huge need for more Latinos in the behavioral health
field, so you know, if that’s something that you’re interested in, you know helping other people,
there’s a lot of opportunities to do so. I think the family is really important, so I think that to me
if you have good relationships with your parents, that’s huge and if there is not a good
relationship, well then there’s help to be able to improve that relationship. I think that comes a
long way. I encourage teenagers, people, everybody, you know, si se puede. If you want to make
your dreams a reality you can and you’re always making choices. You can make bad choices,
you can make good choices, but encourage people to make good choices. You know, this is your
life. You could go one direction or the other. You’re worth a lot, a lot to keep on the positive side
and to help each other. You have friends that probably need help so just encourage them to get
the help.

Ernesto: Thank you so much

Interviewee: You’re welcome, thank you!