Clinical Component

Navigating the Clinical Component

You will practice brief, evidence-based behavioral health care inside a primary care clinic. Patients reach you through warm handoffs from their medical providers, and you work with those providers on a shared treatment plan. Your caseload is focused, with time built in for full assessments and hour-long visits.

Practice Snapshot

Daily Caseload: 3 to 6 patients

Visit Length: Up to 1 hour

Telehealth: About 30% of visits

Primary Population: Adults and geriatrics

Primary Diagnoses: Depression and anxiety

Call and After-Hours: None

Patient Population

Your own caseload is primarily adult and geriatric patients. The associate clinicians you supervise see mainly younger patients, so your supervision work gives you exposure across age groups while your direct care stays focused on adults.

Clinical Focus

Most patients present with depression and anxiety. Care follows a short-term model built on evidence-based techniques, including:

• Behavioral activation
• Problem-solving therapy
• Motivational interviewing
• Relapse prevention and self-management planning

Integrated Care Workflow

1. Warm handoff: A primary care provider introduces the patient to you during or after a medical visit.
2. Assessment: You complete an intake using screening tools and a psychosocial evaluation to form a working diagnosis.
3. Treatment planning: You set goals with the patient and align the plan with the medical team.
4. Brief treatment: You deliver short-term interventions and track symptoms, function, and engagement.
5. Coordination: You consult with medical providers when a patient is not improving as expected or needs a higher level of care.
6. Discharge: You complete a relapse prevention plan with patients who reach their treatment goals.

Care Coordination and Referrals

You also help patients with needs outside the clinic. Common referrals include:

• Housing assistance
• Transportation and financial assistance
• Vocational rehabilitation
• Specialty mental health care
• Substance use treatment

You will also support medical providers with medication adherence monitoring and chronic disease self-management for conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease.

Telehealth

About 30% of visits are delivered by telehealth, with the remainder seen in person at Valley Springs Health & Wellness Center.

Work-Life Structure

• No call
• No evening, weekend, or after-hours coverage
• Clinic hours run Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
• Four 10-hour shifts available from day one