Collaboration in Mental Health Care

Recently, here at Speakeasy, we have had the opportunity to collaborate with a variety of health disciplines. From occupational therapy to pelvic floor physical therapy and dietetics, these allied health professions can provide vital education and support through a team-based approach for mental and physical health. Mental health care has become increasingly complex as individuals and families present with overlapping psychological, medical, and social concerns. Chronic health conditions such as pain, GI, and developmental disorders often overlap and co-occur with mental health concerns such as anxiety, depression, and eating disorders. As the patients’ health needs shift, this requires looking beyond a single profession and towards greater collaborative and integrative care.

What is Collaborative Care?

Collaborative, or integrative care, allows multiple disciplines to work together to support a client’s overall well-being. Interdisciplinary teams often include medical providers, mental health providers, and other allied health professionals. These teams are most commonly formed in higher levels of care, such as inpatient care or partial hospitalization programs, but are becoming more popular in outpatient care. This care addresses mental, physical, social, and environmental factors (often referred to as milieu care) to support the whole person. Clients benefit from the more consistent and collaborative care, increasing trust and engagement in the process.

Collaboration Across Settings

Collaborative care takes different forms depending on the setting. In hospitals, mental health professionals often work alongside medical teams to address both immediate and long-term needs. A common setting this is seen in is eating disorder treatment, where interdisciplinary collaboration is especially critical, integrating medical, nutritional, and psychological care. Additionally, schools offer a strong example of collaboration in action. Individualized Education Program (IEP) teams utilize teamwork between mental health professionals and allied health professionals. We can use this model of integrative care across settings, including outpatient care. 

Barriers to Collaboration

Collaboration and integration of health services can be difficult to implement. Health systems, such as insurance, can make collaboration challenging. When resources are limited, it can be difficult to sustain collaborative care. Limiting access to sessions or requiring specific diagnoses for treatment can force patients to limit what care they seek, potentially leading to deficits in care.

Additionally, professional silos can further limit collaboration in health care. Unclear roles, communication breakdowns, and professional identities can limit efforts to collaborate. Being overly precious in their scope of care can lead to disconnect or an unwillingness to collaborate. Providers may also feel unsure about how they can collaborate with other health professionals if they have only been trained to work independently rather than as part of a team.

Addressing Barriers

So how do we strengthen collaboration in mental and physical health care? This is dependent on multiple factors. Policy reform, particularly regarding insurance, is one barrier. Specifically, improving reimbursement, removing diagnostic requirements, and increasing funding for team-based services. In order to improve collaboration, we must also better prepare clinicians to work interdisciplinarily. This includes better training and education, as well as providing opportunities to collaborate. Within teams, we must also encourage mutual respect among professions without getting too entrenched in our silos.

Whether you are seeking care or providing it, consider a collaborative, team-based approach.

Christina