Maria, RN By three in the afternoon, the clinic always felt a little frayed at the edges. The hum of printers, the faint ring of unanswered phone lines, the blinking of notices for new results — it all blended into the kind of background noise you stop noticing until the day feels heavy. It was […]
What’s New in the MOUD Playbook The updated Playbook offers several key enhancements: · A stronger emphasis on low-barrier, person-centered care. The Playbook underscores that using MOUD saves lives and should not be withheld due to continued substance use or resistance to counseling. It highlights the need for stigma reduction, appropriate levels of care, and […]
While many providers in primary care encounter patients at risk of suicide, they may not feel equipped to respond. A new topic brief from AHRQ’s Academy for Integrating Behavioral Health and Primary Care aims to help. Emerging Best Practices for Addressing Suicidality in Primary Care outlines strategies that can be integrated into routine care and […]
Bion’s Relevance in Modern Healthcare The psychoanalytic perspectives of Bion, especially his concepts of container-contained thinking, thinking under pressure, and emotional truth, appear conceptually distant from the practical and fast-paced demands of integrated healthcare. Yet it is precisely in this setting, where clinicians must think quickly while holding complex emotions, that Bion becomes indispensable. According […]
I’ll admit it. I’ve had Bad Bunny on repeat for weeks now. As his historic residency in Puerto Rico wraps up its final weekend, I cannot help but reflect on the unexpected lessons I felt during his concert and apply some to working in integrated care. Yes, you read that right. A reggaeton superstar’s show […]
Interestingly the word “Jenga” does not mean “angst derived from a predestinated tower of calamity.” Jenga’s roots are in Swahili from the word “kujenga” meaning “to build” (“Jenga”, 2025). Jenga got me thinking about integrated care on one of these fun Saturday nights. We take the warm handoff on the behavioral health side (or provide […]
Neuroimaging Studies Suggest a Link Between Art and Happiness In the mid-20th century, artist Margaret Naumburg came up with the concept of art as symbolic speech, and founded the field of art psychotherapy, based largely on the writings of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung (Borowsky Junge, 2016). The American Art Therapy Association dates back to […]
While no standard framework yet exists, the brief suggests nine common components drawn from models used with children ages 0-5 in pediatric and family medicine, adapted to guide behavioral-developmental health screening and response for adolescents. Implementation of these components can be tailored to fit available resources, staff expertise, and organizational goals. The brief provides real-world […]
I lift and share my voice (well… my lyrics—because my singing, at my children’s request, is reserved for showers and car rides) with you. Together, we are a chorus singing in exam rooms, classrooms, courtrooms, boardrooms, voting booths, chat rooms, and every room we can and do squeeze into. You may not always hear this […]
Addressing vaccine hesitancy requires tailored, evidence-based strategies to address the causes. WHO grouped these determinants into contextual, individual, and group influences and vaccine/vaccination-specific issues. However, most vaccine hesitancy measurement tools have limited psychometric validation. Further studies correlating measurements with vaccination behavior and validating these tools in different populations, including pediatric populations, are warranted. Evidence-based strategies for […]
Integrated Care Models Improve Outcomes for Co-Occurring Diabetes and Depressive Symptoms People with diabetes are about twice as likely to develop depressive symptoms. Further, people with diabetes report that their diabetes care teams rarely (less than 50% of the time) assess their mental health generally or their depressive symptoms more specifically. When people present with […]
A Shakespearean Influence Hamlet’s poignant dilemma, “To be or not to be,” has significantly contributed to illustrating ambivalence as an integral part of the human experience. And research has highlighted its role in moderating the relationship between attitudes and behavior. However, there are still questions about when ambivalence leads to more resistance or susceptibility to […]
