Certificate in Integrated Behavioral Health & Primary Care | Adult Track

The Certificate in Integrated Behavioral Health and Primary Care - Adult Track is designed for clinicians -- such as social workers, nurses, care managers, psychologists, and physicians -- who deliver or plan to deliver integrated health services, and who serve populations often presenting with complex needs in physical health, mental health, and substance use. Participants will gain assessment, intervention, and consultation skills; will learn strategies to apply these skills in the workplace; and will link with a peer distance learning community to practice new skills and discuss ideas.

Introduction to Integrated Behavioral Health and Primary Care
In this module, participants will learn about the nature and implications of integrated care, and will become fluent in the key terms that have come to describe it. Topics will include key public policies affecting the integrated care movement, including the Affordable Care Act; successful models of integrated care; population health management and health disparities; and ethical challenges and opportunities in integrated care. The transition to integrated care will be framed as a paradigm shift from disease-oriented to recovery-oriented service delivery, resulting in new opportunities and challenges, and direct implications for consumers and their families.

Integrated Health Systems and Implementation
In this module, participants will obtain knowledge and skills related to the implementation of integrated care services. Implementation of integrated team-based collaborative care presents challenges and opportunities for providers and managers, with significant implications for access to care and patient satisfaction. Topics include basics of integrated health implementation; telepsychiatric consultation; culturally responsive practice; Patient Centered Medical Home recognition; oral health for collaborative care; and provider mindfulness and self-care.

Bidirectional Integrated Care
In this module, participants will build upon their knowledge of integrated care implementation in adult healthcare settings. Topics will include the Wagner Chronic Care Model; collaborative care; stepped care; care coordination; and billing in integrated health environments. Participants will learn the "care coordination standard" for integrated primary care and discover new roles in primary care for the behavioral health consultant.

Assessment in Integrated Care
Initial and follow-up assessments play a critical role in effective integrated care. This course addresses free-form interviews such as biopsychosocial-spiritual assessment, structured screening tools such as the PHQ-9 and the AUDIT-C, and mixed assessment and intervention models such as SBIRT. The strengths, weaknesses, benefits, and limitations of common assessment tools in integrated health environments are reviewed.

Behavioral Intervention in Integrated Care
Common elements often form the basis of evidence-based behavioral health interventions. This course teaches and reviews behavioral intervention skills relevant to everyday clinical practice across disciplines and practice settings. Brief interventions around motivational enhancement, psychoeducation, cognitive restructuring, mindfulness, and values-based behavior change can help promote adaptive health behaviors in support of improved wellness. There is a strong emphasis on feasible brief interventions in a fast-paced clinical context and on adapting interventions to each consumer's unique biopsychosocial, socioeconomic, and cultural context.

Biomedical Aspects of Integrated Care
Many presenting medical problems are deeply influenced by health behaviors, and a growing body of evidence suggests that mental health consumers, especially those with serious mental illnesses or substance use disorders, are faced with a broad range of physical health disparities. In this module, participants will deepen their understanding of bidirectional integrated care for medical issues such as diabetes and obesity, and behavioral health issues such as substance use disorders and depression. This courses emphasizes the medical sequelae commonly associated with behavioral health diagnoses and psychotropic medications. There are special sections on primary care psychopharmacology and prescription drug abuse.