Arkansas Behavioral Health Integration Network- ABHIN

💙 The future behavioral health workforce starts here. The A-Route Pathways Behavioral Health Academy invites middle and high school students from North Arkansas to explore behavioral health careers through hands-on activities, career exploration, and conversations with professionals working in the field. Come learn, connect, and discover the many ways you can make a difference in the lives of others. Space is limited! Interested in attending? Please register here: https://lnkd.in/gSi34Vtj #ABHIN #AroutePathways #BehavioralHealthCareers #RuralHealth #YouthLeadership #HomegrownMentalHealthWorkforce

A new edition of the ABHIN newsletter is live! It should have arrived in your inbox just a few moments ago but if you are not on our mailing list, you can read it here! And then subscribe so you don't miss anything else in the behavioral health world. 🤩 https://lnkd.in/g3NB_3T7

Memorial Day can hold many emotions. For some, it is a day of remembrance and pride. For others, it may also carry grief for a brother, sister, parent, spouse, friend, peer, or fellow service member who is no longer here. As we honor those we have lost, remember to care for yourself, too. Grief can resurface in unexpected ways, and no one should carry that weight alone. Check in on the people around you, especially veterans, military families, and those navigating loss. If you or someone you know is struggling, support is available. Call or text 988 and press 1 to reach the Veterans Crisis Line or even chat online at https://lnkd.in/d_PNaU2 #MemorialDay #RememberAndHonor #Veterans #MilitaryFamilies #988Lifeline #VeteransCrisisLine #MentalHealthAwareness #GriefSupport #CommunityCare #YouAreNotAlone

We learned at the 2026 BHI Conference just how deeply connected maternal mental health is to a baby’s overall well-being. Our Maternal Mental Health panel brought together local experts, providers, and individuals with lived experience to discuss the challenges facing Arkansas mothers and how we can better support them. Watch this insightful panel, along with the rest of the 2026 BHI Conference sessions, on our YouTube channel: https://lnkd.in/giVC3-f9 or at https://bhiconference.com/ #MaternalMentalHealth #BehavioralHealthIntegration #BHIConference #IntegratedCare #MaternalHealth #MentalHealthMatters #CollaborativeCare #ArkansasHealthcare #PerinatalMentalHealth #TeamBasedCare #WomensHealth #PostpartumSupport #HealthcareInnovation #RuralHealth #ABHIN

We are proud to celebrate Caitlyn Johnson on being recognized with the MSW Field Instructor of the Year award. While this award recognizes an individual, it also reflects the collaborative effort behind behavioral health education and workforce development across Arkansas. ABHIN is grateful for the students, university partners, clinics, supervisors, and community organizations who continue to invest in the next generation of social workers and integrated care professionals. We would especially like to thank Ruth Fissel, LCSW, Dr. Lindsay Ruhr, Latisha Young, LMSW, UALR School of Social Work, and the Blue & You Foundation for a Healthier Arkansas for their continued commitment to behavioral health integration and to creating meaningful internship opportunities for social work students across the state.

ABHIN is incredibly proud to celebrate our Project Coordinator, Miste Manchester-Trent, who will be graduating this weekend from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock with her Master of Social Work degree! Please join us in congratulating Miste on this incredible accomplishment — and in wishing her a very happy birthday as well! Miste, we are so grateful to have you on our team and excited to watch you continue to grow and flourish as a social worker.

Integrated care doesn’t fail from lack of effort. It fails from lack of clarity. And nowhere is that more visible than in one role: The Psychiatric Consultant. This is where many teams get stuck. Psychiatrists are physician experts in mental health, but there simply aren’t enough of us to see every patient directly. Especially in primary care, that model doesn’t scale. So what does? Collaborative Care (CoCM). —but only when this role is clear. The shift: The PCP leads and directs the patient-centered care plan. The Psychiatric Consultant doesn’t take over care— they scale expertise across a population. How: • Partnering with Behavioral Health Care Managers (BHCMs) to track patients via registries • Prioritizing high-need patients for weekly systematic case review with BHCMs • Delivering precise, actionable recommendations to sharpen the PCP’s plan Not taking over. Not one-off consults. Continuous, population-level impact. Think of it like a race team: PCP = driver → the treating physician leading and advancing care foward with the patient BHCM = pit crew → tracking patients, coordinating care, and executing targeted interventions—working directly with patients while aligning closely with PCPs and the psychiatric consultant to drive measurable improvement Psychiatric Consultant = strategist on the headset. Not driving—ensuring the driver has the insight and team support to win. • Seeing patterns others can’t • Anticipating problems early • Guiding adjustments that improve every lap This is the force multiplier impact of an effective Psychiatric Consultant. Done well: • Patients get evidence-based care faster • PCPs get better with every patient • The system gets smarter over time And the data is clear: Engaged psychiatric consultants are a leading contributor to improved outcomes in CoCM—even after controlling for other factors—especially in driving higher response and remission rates for depression. When this role is clear, psychiatrists don’t just impact individual patients. They expand the reach of high-quality mental health care across entire populations. Learn more about CoCM through AIMS Center, Collaborative Family Healthcare Association, Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute, The Bowman Family Foundation, American Medical Association, Arkansas Behavioral Health Integration Network- ABHIN, and American Psychiatric Association #IntegratedCare #CollaborativeCare #BehavioralHealthIntegration #PrimaryCare #Psychiatry #PopulationHealth #HealthcareLeadership #ValueBasedCare

Right on time for Maternal Mental Health Month, we are honored to welcome experts in the field to share on recent efforts to support mothers in Arkansas. Join Hannah McHardy, Dr. Pearl McElfish, and Dr. Jennifer Callaghan-Koru as they share about the work they are doing, including real-world approaches to supporting the whole-person health of pregnant and postpartum individuals. Webinar attendees will have the opportunity to earn 1 CEU. Date: Thursday, May 14 Time: 8:00 AM – 9:00 AM CST CEU: 1 CEU available for attendees Register here: https://lnkd.in/guVAcmAS #PerinatalHealth #MaternalHealth #MaternalMentalHealth #PostpartumCare #PregnancyCare #WomensHealth #BehavioralHealth #IntegratedCare #WholePersonCare #HealthcareEducation #ContinuingEducation #CME #CEU #ArkansasHealthcare #ArkansasMoms #PublicHealth #CommunityHealth #HealthcareProviders #MentalHealthAwareness #PerinatalMentalHealth #CollaborativeCare #ABHIN #UAMS #PatientCare #HealthcareTraining

Did you know that the brain undergoes measurable changes during pregnancy and the postpartum period? Research has shown that these changes occur in areas related to social cognition, empathy, and emotional processing which supports bonding and caregiving. Understanding these shifts can help normalize some of the emotional and cognitive changes many mothers experience. On Mother’s Day, it’s worth recognizing not only the visible work of motherhood, but also the profound internal adaptations that support it. #MothersDay #MaternalHealth #WomensHealth #BehavioralHealth #PublicHealth

We were grateful for the opportunity to join Unity Health’s resident program for recent Grand Rounds focused on Behavioral Health Integration and the Collaborative Care Model (CoCM). A special thank you to Unity for hosting us, to Dr. Draney and Sinclair Winburn, LCSW for bringing ABHIN into this educational opportunity, and to Dr. Sidari for serving as presenter alongside facilitator Dr. Patty Gibson. We always appreciate the chance to collaborate with and inspire future providers, residents, and healthcare leaders to consider innovative ways of improving behavioral health access and advancing integrated, whole-person care across Arkansas. #BehavioralHealthIntegration #CoCM #CollaborativeCare #IntegratedCare #MedicalEducation #GrandRounds #PrimaryCare #BehavioralHealth #ArkansasHealthcare #ABHIN