Part 1 covers the philosophy, skills, and team-based practices every behavioral health clinician should learn in their first week in primary care. This includes understanding how primary care differs from specialty care, how to communicate across disciplines, and how to conduct a productive clinical encounter in 30 minutes.

12 modules · 12 CE credits · $800

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By the end of this module, you will be able to:

Module 1 — Introduction to Primary Care Behavioral Health

• • Describe the Primary Care Behavioral Health model and how it differs from the Collaborative Care Model and specialty mental health care.
  • Explain the evidence base for integrating behavioral health into primary care, including outcomes for patients, providers, and practices.
  • Identify the core values and clinical philosophy that guide PCBH practice.

Module 2 — Principles of Primary Care Practice

• • Describe the five core tenets of primary care: first contact, continuity, comprehensiveness, coordination of care, and attention to the context of family and community.
  • Explain how the history of primary care and the rise of integrated care shapes the current practice environment.
  • Articulate why greater investment in primary care is associated with better health outcomes, lower costs, and greater equity.

Module 3 — Cultural Humility for Primary Care Practice

• • Apply the ADDRESSING framework to examine your own identities and assumptions across ten dimensions of diversity.
  •  Describe how the similarities and differences between clinician and patient shape the therapeutic relationship in a primary care context.
  • Practice ongoing self-reflection as a strategy for reducing bias and overconfidence in clinical encounters.

Module 4 — Sharing Responsibility for the Care of Patients

• • Describe how behavioral health clinicians share responsibility for the biopsychosocial needs of patients with PCPs, nurses, and care managers.
  • Apply a broad scope of practice to address patient barriers to medical care and social determinants of health.
  • Identify situations in which a behavioral health clinician can effectively back up a care manager or other team member.

Module 5 — Effective Communication with Team Members

• • Communicate efficiently and effectively with PCPs before, during, and after patient encounters.
  • Describe how high-quality provider-to-provider communication improves patient outcomes, reduces waste, and supports team satisfaction.

Module 6 — Privacy and Documentation of Care in Primary Care

• • Distinguish between behavioral health notes and psychotherapy notes and apply appropriate documentation practices for each.
  • Apply HIPAA requirements, 42 CFR Part 2 protections, and the Open Notes mandate to documentation decisions in primary care.
  • Write brief, clinically useful notes that support team communication and fit the workflow of a primary care EHR.

Module 7 — Engagement Skills for Primary Care Practice

• • Build rapport rapidly and communicate empathy in a time-limited primary care encounter.
  • Apply engagement skills adapted for patients who have had no prior relationship with a behavioral health provider.
  • Create the conditions in which patients feel safe, heard, and motivated to participate in their care.

Module 8 — Warm Handoffs and Joint Appointments with PCPs

• • Conduct an effective warm handoff and explain why warm handoffs achieve treatment engagement rates far above standard referrals.
  • Conduct a joint appointment when patients and PCPs need to address complex problems together.
  • Support the organizational systems and team culture that make warm handoffs a reliable, everyday practice.

Module 9 — Patient Evaluation in Primary Care

• • Conduct a meaningful, patient-centered initial encounter in 30 minutes using the Engage–Assess–Assist framework.
  • Use a self-assessment tool to reflect on and strengthen the quality of initial primary care encounters over time.

Module 10 — Agreeing on Treatment Goals

• • Connect patient values to concrete, documented treatment goals from the first encounter.
  • Align treatment goals with those of the referring PCP.
  • Use goals as the organizing thread of every follow-up visit, and recognize when treatment has stalled.

Module 11 — Emergencies and Urgent Behavioral Health Needs

• • Recognize and respond to urgent and emergency behavioral health needs in real time in a primary care setting.
  • Communicate effectively with patients in acute distress using direct, brief approaches adapted for impaired listening.
  • Rapidly consult with team members, triage the response, and support a practice culture of consistent emergency preparedness.

Module 12 — Communications: Health Literacy, Interpreters, and Telehealth

• • Identify and address low health literacy without stigmatizing patients.
  • Work effectively with professional interpreters in person and by phone, and navigate privacy challenges in small language communities.
  • Apply federal requirements for language access and raise health literacy concerns sensitively with patients and team members.

Part 2 builds on the foundation of Part 1 to develop the advanced clinical skills that primary care demands. Topics range from population-level screening and high-stakes clinical situations to evidence-based approaches for patients with chronic medical conditions, substance use disorders, and severe mental illness.

12 modules · 12 CE credits · $800

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By the end of this course, the learner will be able to: 

Module 13 - Screening for Mental Health Symptoms and Unhealthy Substance Use

1. 1. Describe the purpose of screening in primary care 
   2. Describe the use of specific mental health and substance use screening measures in primary care
   3. Describe the role behavioral health providers play in promoting best practices in behavioral health screening

Module 14 - Dosing and Titrating Behavioral Health Interventions

1. 1. Describe why dosing and titrating behavioral health interventions is relevant to primary care practice
   2. Describe three strategies for effective dosing and titration of behavioral health care
   3. Describe how behavioral health providers can collaborate with other primary care team members and their patients to effectively dose and titrate patient care

Module 15 - Responding to Acute and Chronic Suicidality

1. 1. Describe best practices for the care of patients at acute suicide risk
   2. Describe best practices for the care of patients at chronic suicide risk
   3. Describe how to care for patients at risk of suicide when doing this work on a team of physicians, nurses, staff, and other behavioral health clinicians

Module 16 - When and How to Connect Patients with Community Resources and Specialty Services

1. 1. Describe the community in which your primary care practice operates and the unique needs and resources of that community
   2. Describe strategies for matching specific patients with appropriate external resources
   3. Describe best practices for making successful referrals and communicating with patients and other team members regarding referrals

Module 17 - Motivational Interviewing

1. 1. Describe the relevance of Motivational Interviewing to behavioral health practice in primary care
   2. Describe empathy and its foundational role in promoting engagement and behavior change
   3. Describe “change talk” and its role in promoting behavior change

Module 18 - Trauma-Informed Care

1. 1. Define trauma-informed care and describe its relevance to health and healthcare
   2. Describe a universal precautions approach to trauma-informed care and strategies for identifying patients with trauma histories
   3. Describe how primary care team members can work together to provide trauma-informed care

Module 19 - Transdiagnostic Behavioral Health Interventions

1. 1. Compare and contrast a transdiagnostic approach with diagnosis-specific interventions
   2. List three specific transdiagnostic approaches that are relevant to primary care practice
   3. Describe the application of transdiagnostic approaches to patient care when working on a primary care team

Module 20 - Collaborating on Psychopharmacology

1. 1. Apply essential psychopharmacology terms to describe commonly prescribed psychiatric medications
   2. Describe behavioral interventions that support patients prescribed psychiatric medications
   3. Describe approaches to collaborating with PCPs and nurses in the care of patients prescribed psychiatric medications

Module 21 - Chronic Medical Conditions

1. 1. Describe the application of the Stages of Change framework to the care of patients with chronic medical problems
   2. Describe the connection between clarifying patients’ values and helping patients align their health behaviors with those values
   3. Collaborate with other members of the primary care team to mutually support patients in their efforts to address chronic medical conditions

Module 22 - Medically Unexplained Symptoms and Somatization Disorder

1. 1. Compare and contrast the core features of Illness Anxiety Disorder, Somatic Symptoms Disorder, & Medically Unexplained Symptoms within the context of primary care
   2. Describe brief, evidence-based behavioral interventions that are helpful for patients with Illness Anxiety Disorder, Somatic Symptoms Disorder, & Medically Unexplained Symptoms
   3. Explain effective approaches for collaborating with primary care clinicians in the care of patients with Illness Anxiety Disorder, Somatic Symptoms Disorder, and Medically Unexplained Symptoms

Module 23 - Substance Use Disorders

1. 1. Describe the heterogeneity of primary care patients with substance use concerns
   2. Describe the characteristics of primary care practices that are well-suited to the care of patients with substance use concerns
   3. Describe the helpful attitudes and skills that prepare primary care team members to care for patients with substance use concerns

Module 24 - Chronic Severe Mental Illness

1. 1. Describe the importance of building strong, longitudinal relationships with patients with severe mental illness and strategies for building these relationships
   2. List three specific brief interventions that are helpful for patients with severe mental illness
   3. Describe how primary care teams can work

Part 3 develops the intentional, responsive clinical practice that primary care demands. The first four modules establish the foundational skills that cut across all therapeutic approaches. The final four modules cover four psychotherapy approaches, each taught with annotated clinical demonstrations and adapted for the pace and scope of primary care

8 modules · 12 CE credits · $800

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By the end of this module, you will be able to:

Foundational Modules:

Module 25 — Common Factors and Core Skills

• • Describe common factors, the evidence supporting those factors, and their relevance to primary care behavioral health practice.
  • Describe eight essential skills common to effective behavioral health approaches.
  • Identify your own relative strengths and weaknesses as a clinician and develop a plan for further growth.

Module 26 — Measurement-Based Care

• • Define measurement-based care and articulate its rationale and evidence base, distinguishing ongoing measurement from initial screening or one-time assessment.
  • Describe contextual factors in your primary care practice that are relevant to the adoption of measurement-based care.
  • Select validated measurement-based care tools suitable for primary care behavioral health practice.
  • Communicate the rationale and findings of measurement-based care collaboratively with patients and PCPs.

Module 27 — Single Session Interventions

• • Describe how a single-session mindset aligns with the four core tenets of primary care and discuss strategies for explaining the approach to patients.
  • Describe clinical skills that help clinicians reduce time spent on low-value activities.
  • Describe high-value clinical skills suitable for single-session interventions.
  • Describe strategies for orienting other primary care team members to a single-session behavioral health approach.

Module 28 — Working with Families in Primary Care

• • Describe the rationale and principles for involving family members in care.
  • Describe core skills for effective clinical encounters that include family members.
  • Describe three specific examples of how family involvement in behavioral health encounters adds clinical value.
  • Describe three specific examples of how family involvement in joint encounters with PCPs and behavioral health providers adds clinical value.

Psychotherapy Approaches:

Module 29 — Cognitive and Behavioral Approaches

• • Describe the organizing principles that link cognitive and behavioral approaches.
  • Explain the mechanism of change of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Behavioral Activation.
  • Describe the adaptation of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Behavioral Activation for delivery in primary care.
  • Recognize the defining mechanisms of change of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Behavioral Activation as they occur in clinical action.
  • Describe strategies for partnering with PCPs when using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Behavioral Activation.

Module 30 — Acceptance and Mindfulness-Based Approaches

• • Describe the organizing principles that link acceptance and mindfulness-based approaches.
  • Explain the mechanism of change of Focused Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction.
  • Describe the adaptation of Focused Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for delivery in primary care.
  • Recognize the defining mechanisms of change of Focused Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction as they occur in clinical action.
  • Describe strategies for partnering with PCPs when using Focused Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction.

Module 31 — Problem-Solving and Solution-Focused Approaches

• • Describe the organizing principles that link problem-solving and solution-focused approaches.
  • Explain the mechanism of change of Problem-Solving Therapy and Solution-Focused Brief Therapy.
  • Describe the adaptation of Problem-Solving Therapy and Solution-Focused Brief Therapy for delivery in primary care.
  • Recognize the defining mechanisms of change of Problem-Solving Therapy and Solution-Focused Brief Therapy as they occur in clinical action.
  • Describe strategies for partnering with PCPs when using Problem-Solving Therapy and Solution-Focused Brief Therapy.

Module 32 — Meaning - and Identity-Focused Approaches

• • Describe the organizing principles that link meaning- and identity-focused approaches.
  • Explain the mechanism of change of Emotion-Focused Therapy and Internal Family Systems.
  • Describe the adaptation of Emotion-Focused Therapy and Internal Family Systems for delivery in primary care.
  • Recognize the defining mechanisms of change of Emotion-Focused Therapy and Internal Family Systems as they occur in clinical action.
  • Describe strategies for partnering with PCPs when using Emotion-Focused Therapy and Internal Family Systems.