Five Minute Read Operating as a behavioral health consultant (BHC) in primary care has always demanded flexibility but never more so than during the pandemic. Things have changed significantly and it’s worthwhile for us to reflect on those changes, not with resistance, but simply with acknowledgment and mindfulness about what those changes mean. So, this […]
5 minute read. This post is a reproduction of the recent FSH journal newsletter. FSH is the official journal of CFHA. FSH Editors’ Retreat It did not include all the fun times we had last year when we were together in Canada, but we carved out the time and got the work done during two […]
2 minute read In a recent article for the New Yorker, physician/author Siddhartha Mukherjee discussed a surprising finding: that COVID-related deaths in a number of low-income countries are a fraction of the totals in developed nations such as the United States, United Kingdom, Belgium, Italy and Spain (Mukherjee, 2021). How could this be? Was this […]
2 minute read The current pandemic is the greatest healthcare crisis most of us have experienced during our lifetimes, with over half a million deaths from the novel virus in the US alone (CDC, 2021). Yet for those who journalist Tom Brokaw described as “The Greatest Generation” (Brokaw, 1998), COVID-19 is simply another roadblock. Brokaw […]
3 minute read Ah, high school. I’m not sure what your experience was like, but as a shy, awkward thing, I found comfort in my high school’s theatre troupe and Latin club crowds. I relished acting in low budget school plays, competing in city and statewide Latin competitions (I know, nerd alert!), and I even […]
Our community is a rarity in the healthcare world. We do not represent a guild. We do not represent a sector of the healthcare industry. We do not represent a disease category. We represent an idea. That idea is that healthcare works best when professionals, in tandem with families and their communities, work together within […]
3 minute read Last week, the number of infections reported to the World Health Organization dropped for the third week in a row. Here in the US, recent reports suggest that numbers are dropping as well. The number of new daily coronavirus cases has dropped below 100,000 for the first time this year, according to […]
3 minute read In the late 1980s, neurologists Sterling and Eyer introduced the theory of allostasis, which describes how certain physiological processes such as heart rate and blood pressure shift rapidly in order to maintain the internal mileiu.1 In a healthy animal, such adaptations serve to maintain a homeostatic baseline. However, when internal or external […]
5 minute read “The key to working with behavioral health clients,” a clinical supervisor told me over 30 years ago, “is asking about the past losses they’ve suffered and exploring whether they mishandled them.” He was a loss zealot, a mourning maven. He walked clients through guided imagery exercises of standing beside their loved one’s […]
10 Minute read Our field has several pioneers and innovators in family-centered work, whether in clinical practice, education, training, research, or policy specialties. This edition of the Families and Health SIG newsletter wanted to highlight the voices of several well-known individuals in the field and share their words of wisdom to future students and professionals […]
3 minute read Efficient care and high productivity are essential elements for behavioral health consultants (BHC) practicing the Primary Care Behavioral Health (PCBH) model. But there can be quite a bit of variability in how clinics measure quality and productivity. Metrics can include the number of patients seen, the relative value of each intervention provided, […]
3 minute read The emerging COVID-19 vaccine rollout is a potential knockout blow for a pandemic that has wreaked havoc on the wellbeing of individuals and families across the globe. A new article from the editors at Families, Systems, and Health reviews the challenges of vaccine dissemination and uptake and recommends the mobilization of interprofessional […]
4 minute read I can hear her soft voice, with its slight Long Island intonations, murmuring in the next room as she comforts her many struggling psychotherapy clients about the pandemic during their telehealth appointments with her. My office—once our adult son’s childhood bedroom with YA titles and high school notebooks still on the bookshelves—is […]
3 minute read Next month, I will turn 65: a point in life when one realizes that the rearview is longer than what lies ahead. The decision to enter Arizona State University’s DBH program after 30 years in journalism raised a few eyebrows among former colleagues. My own perspective is one of evolution, stemming from […]
5 minute read “… I normally see patients for 3-6 visits.” “… we will focus on the symptoms that are getting in your way right now and help you to connect to something longer term if needed.” “… I can help with x, y, and z but if you need help with a, b, and […]
10 Minute Read Our conversations tell us a lot about who we are, so we thought it would be a good idea to review our top list serve conversations for 2020. Before those of you who are not members of the Collaborative Family Healthcare Association (CFHA) stop reading, let me convince you as to why […]
5 minute read Emerging research is bringing new meaning to this familiar adage. Although the study of eye movements is more than a century old, new technology has made eye tracking devices more comfortable for research subjects, and more portable for use in naturalistic settings.1 In general, eye movement studies are of two types. The […]
Five minute read Hearing a child or youth say that they want to die can be a scary experience for any behavioral health professional. When I was a newly minted BHC, I found myself in a complex juggling act of supporting my medical team, taking my patient’s suicidal ideation (SI) seriously while understanding variations in […]
