This is the first in a series of posts showing different perspectives on important topics. Check back in the future for more! Hi everyone and happy 2020! As you can tell from the title of this post, today in the CFHA blog we are going to take on the age-old question “Which discipline creates the […]
Big Ideas for Behavioral Health
5 Minute Read I have big ideas. Ideas that could potentially change how we deliver health care. Ideas about how behavioral health could potentially be involved in almost every visit in primary care. Ideas about how we can be more involved in all things early detection and prevention. Ideas about how chronic disease management is […]
Pain and Acceptance at the End of Caregivers’ Hopes
3 Minute Read This piece originally appeared on the Huffington Post. Posted here with permission. “You are treating her like she’s a piece of meat,” Tony was shouting angrily at me. I hadn’t the power to change the care his 62-year-old wife was receiving in my hospital’s intensive care unit—for the past two years, I had […]
Research Review
Happy Holidays everyone! Welcome to the regular Research Review blog post. The post where I save you time searching the integrated/collaborative care research literature by doing all the work myself! Use that time to buy presents for your loved ones. Here are some themes below: First, I continue to see more articles on integrated care […]
Where are the paraprofessionals in CFHA?
3-4 Minute Read With a couple of notable exceptions, the 2019 CFHA conference in Denver was, as my 8 year old would say, epic. The creative plenary sessions were impressive; a surprise opportunity to co-facilitate the women’s health task force discussion group with Helen Coons left me star-struck; Stacy Ogbeide’s session on treating PTSD in […]
The Art of Patient Interviewing
5 minute read I had the honor of consulting with a storyteller/filmmaker/documentarian and his staff last year. Many of the stories his team tells requires them to interview people who have been through or witnessed terrible things. I was asked to speak with the filmmaking team about considerations when interviewing trauma survivors. This got me […]
Of Conferences and Economics
5 minute read Our attention is a precious commodity these days: low supply but high demand. Even now you are “selling” your attention to “buy” the content of this blog post. Thank you! Please come again. We appreciate your business. Imagine the challenge, then, of selling a three-day conference to busy clinicians, managers, researchers, educators, […]
The Never-ending Story of Integrated Care
A few years ago, I went to a Festschrift for Steve Zyzanski, one of my revered mentors, on the occasion of his retirement. A large group of us gathered to celebrate his life, his contributions, to collectively tell his story and celebrate the greatness of his life’s work. So after all our hot air and […]
Can Healthcare Measure TLC?
Healthcare is awash in quality metrics. Registries of PHQ-9 scores. Frequency of visits. Decreased utilization rates. Reduced response times to emergencies. We believe they create better clinical outcomes through greater accountability of interventions and systems. Of course, there’s a great deal of truth here. But the touchy-feely therapist in me tells me there’s something […]
Family Systems and Complexity Science: Two Sides of the Same Coin
Laying in a field looking up at a partly cloudy sky, a late summer breeze pushes through the trees, portending the coming chill. The breeze sets a sleek starling to flight. Immediately, hundreds of starlings follow, with a thunderous rustle of leaves. Their silent dance above, an exquisitely choreographed molding, is a wonder. Did that […]
Welcome to the 2019 CFHA Annual Conference in Denver!
Known as the Mile High City, Denver is the perfect city to host the 2019 annual conference for integrated care where the sky is the limit. Denver is home to one of the most walkable downtowns in the nation, making it easy to visit countless restaurants, breweries, museums, and parks after a full day of […]
Empowering People & Systems in Integrated Care
Healthcare leadership needs a makeover. The current rates of burnout and turnover in healthcare (including integrated care) are not sustainable. We need leaders who empower others. Empowerment helps staff to work to their full potential, participate in decision making, take ownership for tasks that utilize their expertise, feel valued, and feel committed to their team’s […]
SSSMART Self Management Goals
Ah, goals. We all set them for ourselves. Do I even need to tell you how many times I have vowed to get up 15 minutes early to meditate every morning or given up cookies? More often than not goals require too much additional energy and not enough failsafe measures to be sustainable. Human nature […]
RAISE Family Caregiving Advisory Council: An Open Letter
Dear RAISE Family Caregiving Advisory Council You are the Dream Team of family caregiving innovators, the all-stars of our fiercest advocates. Since President Trump signed the RAISE Family Caregivers Act in January 2018, mandating the creation of an Advisory Council to devise a national strategy for supporting family caregivers, we’ve been awaiting your anointment […]
Family-Oriented, Not Just Family-Friendly
Recently, the Children’s Hospital Corporation in Massachusetts completed a study examining family-centered hospital rounds for doctors and nurses. Rounds are daily meetings when the care team reviews patient progress and creates a plan for the day. During rounds, staff may use confusing medical terms and neglect family input and questions. In response, the research team […]
Expanding access to care for perinatal mood challenges: 4 steps in the right direction
“I can’t sleep when my baby sleeps, I’m too worried about every little thing. Why didn’t anyone tell me it would be like this? I thought I could do this but now I am not sure at all.” “I’m so angry and irritable that my family and friends are losing patience with me. They pushed […]
The Yin and Yang of Doing and Being this Summer
Nothing like waiting until the very last minute for inspiration! The last few weeks I have been mulling over topics for this month’s post. Nothing had really stuck until I was out on a hike this morning with a friend. He was talking about how after a slow day at his job he often has […]
Research Review: The Latest and Greatest
Welcome to the JUNE 2019 research review, where I review some of the latest research findings and developments in the field of integrated behavioral health. There are two trends I am seeing in the literature that comes to my email inbox. First, researchers are evaluating the impact of integration on patient populations with complex health […]