UCHealth announced this week that behavioral health experts are now working with primary care physicians at about 30 of its primary care clinics across Colorado, including in Longmont.
“Our model is to increase access to these needed services while reducing stigma,” Elicia Bunch, vice president of behavioral health for UCHealth, stated in a news release. “Both lack of access and stigma have served as barriers to care throughout our state, and by integrating therapists into the primary care setting, we are normalizing these services for patients. Now when patients go to their primary care clinic, they are able to get their physical and emotional needs met in the same setting. We are treating the whole person in one location.”
Patients of all ages can be referred to a specialist for a wide range of reasons — from depression and anxiety to help for managing behavioral issues that impact their medical condition, such as stress management for high blood pressure, according to Jenna Orosco, the behavioral health counselor who works with primary care providers at UCHealth Longmont Clinic.
Dr. Mark Schane, a pediatrician at UCHealth Longmont Clinic, stated parents feel a sense of relief when he tells them he can refer their child to a specialist whose office is in the same location.
“Having therapists embedded in our clinic has improved the ability of our patients to receive mental health services in a more timely fashion,” Schane stated in the release. “I also greatly appreciate being informed through our electronic health record that my patients have met with the therapist and are receiving the care that they need.”
Orosco stated she also has spent a lot of time helping patients cope with the emotional stress of the COVID-19 pandemic and the current political climate. A Colorado Health Foundation poll released last month found half of Coloradans surveyed reported experiencing mental health strain because of the virus.
“Whatever was going on for the patient before COVID-19 has now become exacerbated. Stress, anxiety, relationship issues are all now much more pronounced. People feel very out of control and helpless with the pandemic and today's social and political climate, not to mention people are much more isolated from each other,” Orosco stated in the release. “There’s been a lot of weight gain and physical ailments, more panic attacks and a lot more substance use. I'm also starting to see anxiety growing as kids return to school and adults return to work because they are afraid to get sick and they have forgotten how to interact with people.”
