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Population health refers to improving the health of the entire population through the use of policy and system changes (American Psychological Association, 2022). The population health approach aims to address social, environmental, cultural, and economic factors that influence health outcomes. The American Psychological Association affirms that “an individual’s health cannot be considered in isolation from the relationships, communities, and societies to which the individual

Did you know that most school districts do not have clinical psychologists to work within their schools? While educational institutions employ school psychologists, whose focus is to address academic concerns, clinical psychologists can assess and diagnose mental health concerns. Clinical psychologists can perform psychodiagnostic assessments for various mental health disorders, provide therapy and resources for students in the school setting. I am a doctoral student under cl

In Central California, an underserved and high-need area, there is a shortage of mental health providers. In our rural communities, many residents are Medi-Cal patients and seek services in federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) and rural health clinics (RHCs). FQHCs and RHCs are known to experience “open vacancies that are unable to be filled for years, prolonged length of onboarding licensed providers, and being limited to a small list of billable licensed providers” (C

Many evidence-based behavioral and cognitive interventions are used in primary care to treat mental health issues. Interventions include mindfulness exercises, cognitive disputation, relaxation techniques, and motivational interviewing (MI) strategies (Hunter et al., 2024). Given the brevity of appointments (one to four 30-minute sessions) with the behavioral health consultant (BHC), the patient’s time with the BHC should be viewed as a coaching appointment. Hunter et al. (20

Commonly used screeners in integrated care Integrated behavioral health care follows the population health model in that interventions and clinical applications focus on the entire patient population not individual patients (Hunter et al., 2024). Hunter et al. (2024) reports that less intensive intervention provided to larger amounts of people may have a greater impact on the overall population. For this reason, behavioral screening tools are integrated into clinical pathways