Strategies for successful integration of mental health care delivery into community health worker programs

Purpose Integrating mental health care and related behavioural interventions into routine primary care delivered by community health workers (CHWs) remains promising, yet challenging. This paper aims to share strategies for such integration. Design/methodology/approach This paper draws on real-world implementation experiences from care delivery programmes and research studies that used task-sharing to integrate mental health care within routine CHW activities. Observations from research and practice are combined with existing global mental health evidence to derive key implementation insights. Findings Four key insights are identified. Firstly, integration is most effective when it shifts existing care towards evidence-based practice, rather than when it adds new tasks. Secondly, to ensure quality of care delivery, task-sharing for mental health care requires skills-focused ongoing supervision, which can be supported by digital tools. Thirdly, enabling CHWs to deliver care at the point of contact (rather than only conducting screening and referral) enhances credibility, engagement and access. Fourthly, strengthening system-level strategies increases support for healthcare workers, including CHWs and primary care providers, to provide mental health services in primary care settings. Originality/value This paper provides practice-based insights into how mental health care can be integrated within real-world community health systems. It offers specific and actionable strategies to strengthen existing tasks, build supportive supervision for CHWs, deliver care rather than only conduct screening and strengthen system-level support for healthcare workers.