Module 1 — Introduction to Primary Care Behavioral Health

• • Describe the Primary Care Behavioral Health model and how it differs from the Collaborative Care Model and specialty mental health care.
  • Explain the evidence base for integrating behavioral health into primary care, including outcomes for patients, providers, and practices.
  • Identify the core values and clinical philosophy that guide PCBH practice.

Module 2 — Principles of Primary Care Practice

• • Describe the five core tenets of primary care: first contact, continuity, comprehensiveness, coordination of care, and attention to the context of family and community.
  • Explain how the history of primary care and the rise of integrated care shapes the current practice environment.
  • Articulate why greater investment in primary care is associated with better health outcomes, lower costs, and greater equity.

Module 3 — Cultural Humility for Primary Care Practice

• • Apply the ADDRESSING framework to examine your own identities and assumptions across ten dimensions of diversity.
  •  Describe how the similarities and differences between clinician and patient shape the therapeutic relationship in a primary care context.
  • Practice ongoing self-reflection as a strategy for reducing bias and overconfidence in clinical encounters.

Module 4 — Sharing Responsibility for the Care of Patients

• • Describe how behavioral health clinicians share responsibility for the biopsychosocial needs of patients with PCPs, nurses, and care managers.
  • Apply a broad scope of practice to address patient barriers to medical care and social determinants of health.
  • Identify situations in which a behavioral health clinician can effectively back up a care manager or other team member.

Module 5 — Effective Communication with Team Members

• • Communicate efficiently and effectively with PCPs before, during, and after patient encounters.
  • Describe how high-quality provider-to-provider communication improves patient outcomes, reduces waste, and supports team satisfaction.

Module 6 — Privacy and Documentation of Care in Primary Care

• • Distinguish between behavioral health notes and psychotherapy notes and apply appropriate documentation practices for each.
  • Apply HIPAA requirements, 42 CFR Part 2 protections, and the Open Notes mandate to documentation decisions in primary care.
  • Write brief, clinically useful notes that support team communication and fit the workflow of a primary care EHR.

Module 7 — Engagement Skills for Primary Care Practice

• • Build rapport rapidly and communicate empathy in a time-limited primary care encounter.
  • Apply engagement skills adapted for patients who have had no prior relationship with a behavioral health provider.
  • Create the conditions in which patients feel safe, heard, and motivated to participate in their care.

Module 8 — Warm Handoffs and Joint Appointments with PCPs

• • Conduct an effective warm handoff and explain why warm handoffs achieve treatment engagement rates far above standard referrals.
  • Conduct a joint appointment when patients and PCPs need to address complex problems together.
  • Support the organizational systems and team culture that make warm handoffs a reliable, everyday practice.

Module 9 — Patient Evaluation in Primary Care

• • Conduct a meaningful, patient-centered initial encounter in 30 minutes using the Engage–Assess–Assist framework.
  • Use a self-assessment tool to reflect on and strengthen the quality of initial primary care encounters over time.

Module 10 — Agreeing on Treatment Goals

• • Connect patient values to concrete, documented treatment goals from the first encounter.
  • Align treatment goals with those of the referring PCP.
  • Use goals as the organizing thread of every follow-up visit, and recognize when treatment has stalled.

Module 11 — Emergencies and Urgent Behavioral Health Needs

• • Recognize and respond to urgent and emergency behavioral health needs in real time in a primary care setting.
  • Communicate effectively with patients in acute distress using direct, brief approaches adapted for impaired listening.
  • Rapidly consult with team members, triage the response, and support a practice culture of consistent emergency preparedness.

Module 12 — Communications: Health Literacy, Interpreters, and Telehealth

• • Identify and address low health literacy without stigmatizing patients.
  • Work effectively with professional interpreters in person and by phone, and navigate privacy challenges in small language communities.
  • Apply federal requirements for language access and raise health literacy concerns sensitively with patients and team members.