Training the Collaborative Care Behavioral Health Care Manager and a Child Psychiatrist’s Role

Objective The Collaborative Care Model (CoCM) is an evidence-based intervention delivered within the primary care setting for the treatment of common mild-moderate mental illnesses. CoCM introduces a new member to the primary care treatment team, a behavioral health care manager (BHCM), whose role is critical to the delivery of the service. However, while CoCM has been recognized as a way to increase access to mental health services in the primary care setting and improve pediatric mental illness, there is no standardized training for the pediatric BHCM to ensure quality and facilitate adoption. Here, the experiences of a real-world BHCM training program are discussed. Method The North Carolina Psychiatry Access Line has trained 20 pediatric BHCMs and supported 7 community pediatric practices in the implementation of pediatric CoCM. The BHCM training involved a combination of publicly available self-paced courses, tailored live virtual didactics, a biweekly learning collaborative, and case-based education by the psychiatric consultant during weekly panel staffing. Results Pediatric BHCMs reported feeling well-trained and supported in their role. Additionally, this training demonstrated that core BHCM skills could be taught quickly using publicly available resources, and ongoing BHCM knowledge and skill mastery could be accomplished through CoCM panel staffing and regular group discussions. Conclusion The training of the pediatric BHCM is critical to the implementation of pediatric CoCM, and training can be completed through multimodal resources that focus on core BHCM skills with ongoing support. Ensuring thorough and standardized pediatric BHCM training is necessary for pediatric CoCM uptake.