Integrated Behavioral Health Certificate for Adults aims to provide participants with population health prevention strategies and treatment-focused interventions which can be implemented within any adult healthcare setting. Students completing this certificate will be better prepared as healthcare professionals to deliver integrated clinical care, consult with medical teams as a leader and integration expert, and to launch innovative practice models that offer unique value propositions to the healthcare marketplace.
The Integrated Behavioral Healthcare (IBH) certificate program specializing in Adult care is offered as a stackable credential exclusively to students currently enrolled in the Doctor of Behavioral Health (DBH) degree program at Cummings Graduate Institute for Behavioral Health Studies.
Learn more about the certificate below.
Benefits of this certificate include:
- Enhance your professional knowledge, skills, and career potential in field of integrated healthcare practices
- Gain assessment, intervention, and consultation skills
- Implement population health prevention strategies and treatment-focused interventions within any adult healthcare setting
- Serve as catalysts for healthcare reform and improvement
- Learn from national experts in the field and network with peers
Integrated Behavioral Health Certificate Description
The Integrated Behavioral Health Certificate for Adults will focus on use of evidence-based models of integrated behavioral health delivery for the clinical provider who is working in fast-paced primary care or specialty medical settings. Assessment tools appropriate for use in electronic health records for common chief mental health complaints and comorbid health conditions will be covered, and limitations of these assessment tools will be discussed. Special attention will be paid to the skill set needed to enter integrated care settings and market oneself effectively as a new Behavioral Health Consultant.able to perceive for themselves.
Five specialty areas are offered, each of which reflect the need for specific and advanced training in clinical practice with certain populations. Adult, Gerontology, Military Families & Veterans, and Women’s Health specialty tracks provide coursework to prepare the student to understand the epidemiology and prevalence of mental health disorders, chronic disease, and comorbidities specific to the population of focus, as well as evidence-based interventions that effectively address these issues to improve overall health and quality of life for these populations in medical settings and communities.
Students completing this certificate in any of the speciality areas will be better prepared as healthcare professionals to deliver integrated clinical care, consult with medical teams as a leader and integration expert, and to launch innovative practice models that offer unique value propositions to the healthcare marketplace.
IBH – Adult Certificate Description
This Integrated Behavioral Health, Adult specialty certificate will explore interventions specific to treating the adult population from an integrated behavioral and medical health perspective. The need for behavioral health consultants in all healthcare settings is pertinent in that adults are subject to death as early as 25 years younger than the rest of the US population due to serious mental illness which negatively impacts physical and developmental health overall. This certificate aims to provide participants with population health prevention strategies and treatment-focused interventions which can be implemented within any adult healthcare setting.
Integrated Behavioral Health – Adult Certificate Program Outcomes
- Consult effectively with the medical team as a behavioral health expert using knowledge of medical culture and acute, chronic, and comorbid conditions.
- Deliver evidence-based screening, assessment, and behavioral interventions appropriate for primary care and specialty medical settings.
- Design cost-effective population health approaches to treating chronic and comorbid conditions while addressing social determinants of health.
- Design and evaluate evidence-based practice for behavioral conditions in medical settings based on principles of quality improvement
- Create a business case based on a population health approach to improving access to quality, integrated healthcare.
Program Completion
Completion of this program results in a transcript designation of certificate completion for Integrated Behavioral Health – Adult in the student’s profession. This signals to prospective employers and professional organizations an advanced level of training.
This graduate certificate does not lead to state or federal licensure or other credentials in a clinical field.
Marketplace Demand
The US healthcare system is the most costly in the world, and providers are under great pressure to systematically approach changing care delivery. As the IBH model in healthcare continues to grow quickly, the opportunity for employment has outpaced the number of trained providers, creating a workforce gap. CGI non-degree certificate programs provide specific training in patient- and family-centered care, quality measurement and improvement including redesign of primary care services and structures, population health and disease management designs, cost savings and return on investment analyses, and innovative financing approaches. With this incredibly unique skill set, CGI Graduates are in high demand in the healthcare marketplace.
Cummings Graduate Institute cannot assure employment or job placement to graduates upon program/course completion or graduation from the institution.
Graduate Employment Opportunities
The Cummings Institute cannot assure employment or job placement upon graduation, however our graduates will be prepared to work as behavioral health consultants, providers, and/or managers in primary healthcare settings, including hospitals and emergency departments, Primary Care Medical Homes, Federally Qualified Health Centers, Accountable Care Organizations, managed behavioral healthcare organizations, specialty mental health and substance abuse treatment settings, preventative care and disease management programs, and/or new business start-ups.
Curriculum & Training
The Integrated Behavioral Health – Adult certificate program curriculum delivers training that will prepare providers to implement patient-centered care, achieve medical cost savings, and reduce the healthcare provider burnout that is often a result from practices that have adopted the Triple Aim as an operational framework. Certificate program students additionally learn to address the Fourth Aim keeping healthcare provider and staff morale and quality of life in mind as we seek to improve patient experience of care, population health outcomes, and reduce the cost of care.
Students who enroll in and complete non-degree certificate programs must meet the same admission eligibility requirements as the DBH program, and may transfer coursework to a degree-seeking program of study should they decide to continue with their studies.
Graduates will be prepared to work as behavioral health consultants, providers, directors, and managers in primary healthcare settings, including hospitals, Primary Care Medical Homes, Federally Qualified Health Centers, and specialty medical settings.
Curriculum
Upon completion of the certificate program, graduates will:
- Understand the impact of policy, legislation, and funding on successful implementation of quality improvements in adult healthcare settings
- Consult effectively with the medical team as a behavioral health expert using knowledge of medical culture and acute, chronic, and comorbid conditions
- Deliver evidence-based screening, assessment, and behavioral interventions appropriate for primary care and specialty medical settings
- Design cost-effective population health approaches to treating chronic and comorbid conditions while addressing social determinants of health
- Design and evaluate evidence-based practice for behavioral conditions in medical settings based on principles of quality improvement
- Create a business case based on a population health approach to improving access to quality, integrated healthcare
Credit Hours
Student will earn one (1) unit for the Foundations course and one (1) to three (3) credits for each required course.
Number of clock and/or credit hours for the IBH- Adult certificate program
A total of sixteen (16) credit hours will be required for graduation. Required courses will make up sixteen (16) credit hours.
Maximum Timeframe
The Maximum Time frame to complete the certificate program is measured in calendar years for the Integrated Behavioral Health – Adult certificate program. Students must complete the program within two (2) years and are only permitted to attempt 16 credits before program termination. However, if exceptions are granted by the Director of the DBH Program, students may complete their certificate program within three (3) years of enrollment.
Minimum Timeframe
The Minimum Timeframe to complete the program is measured in calendar years for the Integrated Behavioral Health – Adult certificate program. Students enrolling with no transfer credits must participate in the program for a minimum of one (1) year.
Integrated Behavioral Health – Adult Certificate
| Foundations of Doctoral Study – 1 credit hour – required | ||||
| Course Number | Course Title | Credit Hours | Course Description | Pre- or Co- requisites |
| DBH 1000 | Foundations of the Biodyne Model | 1 | The focus of this course is on the Biodyne (Greek for “life change”) Model of brief, focused interventions across the lifespan developed by the renowned psychologist Dr. Nicholas A. Cummings and his daughter, psychologist Dr. Janet Cummings. Emphasis will be placed on the Biodyne assessment and intervention model rather than one-size-fits-all approaches to psychotherapy. This course will focus on use of the Biodyne Model of assessment and intervention for the DBH working in fast-paced primary care settings as well as other models of integrated healthcare delivery. Assessment tools for common chief mental health complaints and comorbid health conditions will be covered, and limitations of these assessment tools will be discussed. | Co-req:
DBH 9901 |
| Core Course – 3 credit hours – required | ||||
| DBH 9901 | Biodyne Model I: The Biodyne Model in Integrated Care Settings | 3 | This course is an orientation to the program and to the essential skills needed to pursue a Doctor of Behavioral Health degree. Doctoral level skills, such as academic integrity, time management, effective use of the library, comprehending complex scholarly texts and research articles, and APA form and style in professional communication are also introduced. Students will learn to formulate ideas, search for and appraise text and online resources, and critically analyze and thoughtfully synthesize research findings. The student will become familiar with various writing and communication formats, and practice those appropriate to their degree and career goals. Special attention will be paid to the skill set needed to enter integrated care settings, the use of the Biodyne Model in these environments, and how to market oneself effectively as a new Behavioral Health Consultant. | Co-Req:
DBH 1000 |
| Specialty Courses – 12 credit hours – required | ||||
| DBH 9902 | Biodyne Model II: Assessment and Behavioral Interventions for Chronic & Comorbid Conditions | 3 | The focus of this course will be on the experience of chronic illness from both the patient’s and the provider’s standpoint. Emphasis will be placed on biopsychosocial aspects of chronic illnesses and Biodyne Model behavioral interventions, as well as effective health change methods, including health promotion and health-focused psychotherapy and counseling. Considerations for treating special populations and culturally diverse patients will be discussed. | Pre-req.
DBH 1000, DBH 9901 |
| DBH 9905 | Behavioral Interventions for Chronic Pain | 3 | This course provides an understanding of the extent to which chronic pain impacts primary care and population health, the impact of chronic pain on both patients and caregivers, subjective and objective elements of pain perception and assessment, the uses and dangers of pharmacological pain treatment, and behavioral treatments that have proven effective for effective pain management. The course promotes a “management over cure” perspective, with an emphasis on helping patients to alter their relationship with, and perception of, chronic pain. | Pre-req.
DBH 1000, DBH 9901, Recommended Pre-req: DBH 9000, DBH 9010 |
| DBH 9010 | Psychopharmacology for the DBH | 3 | The course provides an overview of psychopharmacology, including basics of pharmacology sufficient to understand mechanisms of action, side effect profiles, interaction effects, and other issues related to the biology of psychotropic medications. The course emphasizes responsible psychotropic medication use, with a focus on which patients are likely to be medication responsive and which patients would be better treated with other (behavioral) interventions. | Pre-req.
DBH 1000, DBH 9901 |
| DBH 9022 | Health Equity | 3 | This course will focus on factors associated with disparities in health status and the delivery of health care and identify possible interventions and solutions. Students will explore relationships among individual characteristics such as gender identification, education, income, literacy, race, ethnicity, culture, acculturation, disability, age, and sexual orientation; interpersonal factors such as communication with healthcare providers, family and social ties, and discrimination; and societal-level factors such as neighborhood and community context, health care organizations, economics, politics and policies and seek to understand how those factors shape health behaviors, access to health care services, unequal treatment, and health status in the United States. Students will critically examine the multifaceted issue of health disparities faced by vulnerable populations, review health policy and social programs regarding their ability to reduce or eliminate inequality, propose alternatives, and identify steps practitioners, leaders, payers, and systems can take to reduce parity gaps. | DBH 1000
DBH 9901 Recommended Pre-req: DBH 9902 DBH 9012 |
* An enrollment exception may be granted to non-degree seeking students per the discretion of the Director. If granted, a non-degree seeking student may be advised to withdraw from a course per the discretion of the Director and/or course Faculty.
