Hispanic Youth, Mental Health and Nursing

<p>SAMHSA Minority Fellowship Program at the American Nurses Association Alumna, Dr. Daisy Lara, joins host Indrias Kassaye for a conversation on the mental health related challenges facing the fastest growing adolescent and youth population in the United States today, Hispanic young people. While the Hispanic community is not a monolith with plenty of diversity and nuances, as a group, reasons for concern include having the highest levels of depressive symptoms relative to other ethnic or racial groups, and the second highest rate of suicide after Native American/Pacific Islander youth.</p><p>Nurses can play an important role in addressing the unmet behavioral health needs of Hispanic youth. Dr. Lara reflects on perceptions of mental health, and stigma related to mental illness, in Hispanic communities, and the role that behavioral health professionals including nurses can play to address their unmet needs.</p><p>Dr. Lara also shares her insights on the challenges of being a Hispanic nurse working in a field dominated by white women and her reasons for entering the field of psychiatric mental health nursing.</p><p>Dr. Lara is double board-certified by The American Nurses Credentialing Center as a Family Nurse Practitioner and Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. She has extensive advance practice nursing experience in both outpatient and inpatient settings, including with adolescents and young adults. She is also a member of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN) and is the most recent past President of the Philadelphia Chapter. Dr. Lara taught at the University of Pennsylvania school of nursing and continues to mentor rising nurse scholars through the MFP. Today she leads a private practice that provides supportive psychotherapy and educates patients on mental health.</p><p>For more information on the SAMHSA Minority Fellowship Program at the American Nurses Association, visit <a href="http://www.emfp.org/" target="_blank">www.emfp.org</a></p><p>To learn more about Dr. Daisy Lara, visit <a