Are your behavioral health clinicians ready for primary care?

Most behavioral health clinicians enter primary care well-trained yet still unprepared for practice. Graduate training in psychology, social work, counseling, and marriage and family therapy prepares clinicians for a model of care with 50-minute encounters, comprehensive diagnostic assessment, an individual patient focus, and solo practice. Bringing those clinicians directly into primary care without reorienting them to the difference in pace, culture, and team-based routines often results in siloed providers, minimal impact on the community, clinician dissatisfaction, early turnover, or, at worst, program failure. The Certificate Program in Primary Care Behavioral Health prepares your clinicians for the work that graduate training left unfinished.

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What your team gains

When your behavioral health clinicians complete the Certificate Program, your practice gains:

• Clinicians who contribute value across the full scope of primary care. Behavioral health is relevant to the full range of patient needs that primary care addresses: diet, exercise, sleep, chronic disease management, and health behavior change. Clinicians trained in this program add value for patients across the full range of medical and behavioral needs.
  
  
• Clinicians who engage patients at every level of readiness. Primary care patients arrive with varying degrees of motivation and awareness. Clinicians trained in this program work productively with ambivalence, meeting patients where they are rather than waiting for them to be ready.
  
  
• Clinicians who work within the structure and pace of primary care. Continuity, coordination, comprehensive care, and easy access define how behavioral health care gets structured in an integrated practice. Clinicians who complete the Certificate Program understand how to integrate these principles into their practice.
  
  
• Clinicians who function as strong members of your care team. This program prepares clinicians to partner with physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, and support staff to deliver coordinated, team-based care. They communicate clearly across disciplines and resolve differences in ways that strengthen the team rather than strain it.
  
  
• Clinicians who address your quality standards. Clinicians who complete the Certificate Program understand depression and substance use disorder screening, their role in supporting a screening program, and how to care for patients who screen positive. They are prepared to apply evidence-based approaches in their clinical work and to provide effective care for patients at risk of suicide.
• Behavioral health clinicians who are satisfied with their work are more likely to stay. Clinicians who are prepared for primary care experience the work differently. They feel like valued members of the team, contribute with confidence, and find meaning in the role. That sense of belonging and purpose is associated with greater job satisfaction and lower turnover.
  
  
• A resource who actively supports your primary care providers. When a behavioral health clinician is well-prepared, the PCPs working alongside them feel it. PCPs who work alongside a well-prepared behavioral health clinician carry less burden, and this matters for their well-being and keeping them in your practice.

Group rates and bulk enrollment 

Organizations can purchase seats in the Certificate Program in bulk, at a discounted rate, and assign them to clinicians over time. A practice that purchases seats today can enroll new hires over the next one to two years, making the Certificate Program a practical fit for ongoing workforce development and onboarding.

Group pricing is available for purchases of ten or more seats. For current rates and session dates, see the Schedule, Pricing, CE Credits, and FAQ page

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Contact us about group rates or purchase seats in bulk. Contact us at cipc@umassmed.edu

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Share this with others in your organization.

The flyer summarizes the Certificate Program curriculum, faculty, CE credits, and group pricing in a format suitable for internal circulation and employer reimbursement requests.

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DOWNLOAD BUTTON: Download the Certificate Program Flyer

What program leaders say

⚠️ Placeholder testimonials below. Amy Green to gather 2–3 quotes from residency directors, FQHC clinical directors, or department chairs who have enrolled clinicians in the program. If no organizational testimonials are available at launch, omit this block or substitute a strong individual clinician testimonial with employer-focused framing. Attribution format for organizational testimonials: Name, Title, and Organization are sufficient

Want to review the program before reaching out?

See the Certificate Program Overview or meet our 20+ faculty