Driving Systemic Change: Nikole R. Jiggetts on Shaping the Future of Integrated Behavioral Healthcare
Nikole R. Jiggetts, a licensed clinical social worker and current Doctor of Behavioral Health (DBH) student at Cummings Graduate Institute for Behavioral Health Studies, is a Registered Play Therapist-Supervisor, Certified Trauma Practitioner, and author with over two decades of experience serving children, adolescents, and families. She holds an MSW from Virginia Commonwealth University and specializes in expressive therapies—including play, art, and yoga—to support healing and growth. In addition to her clinical practice, Nikole serves as an adjunct professor, life coach, parenting consultant, and Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT). She delivers professional training to mental health clinicians both locally in the Virginia tri-state area and virtually nationwide. In this interview, Nikole discusses her commitment to equity and access in healthcare, her decision to pursue the DBH, and how the program has deepened her expertise in evidence-based practices and quality improvement strategies aimed at transforming the healthcare system.
How has the DBH program influenced your approach to behavioral health?
My interest in becoming a DBH was due to frustration with how our healthcare systems are not fully meeting the needs of patients. In my research, many core reasons have been identified for this system not working. As I look further into the statistical reports of patient outcomes, addressing healthcare equity becomes essential in my work. My view has been more focused on how healthcare should become more integrated and consider the patient’s intersectional identities, the prevalence of potential mechanisms of depression, and social health determinants that contribute to the chronic health conditions linked to mental health to increase treatment outcomes and treatment adherence. Addressing the rising healthcare costs, eroding education, inadequate housing, and food insecurities are just some of the social determinants of health that prevent all people from receiving equitable care.
What are your future career goals, and how do you envision the DBH program contributing to your success?
My professional goals align with my academic interest as courses focus on health equity, quality in healthcare, and the mind-body connection, addressing treating the patient holistically. In my career, encouraging patients to advocate for their health concerns during their healthcare visit places more responsibility on the patient and not as much on the physician or system to change. Shifting the responsibility to be shared begins with the physician’s approach to treating patients, starting with their assessment of the patient. Emphasis on asking assessment questions about the social determinants of health and health equity is the driving force in supporting patients with medical advice adherence and lifestyle behavioral changes. By focusing on early education and health literacy, I aim to shape the attitudes of future providers, helping them recognize the critical role of behavioral health in holistic patient care before they begin treating patients. This shift could be foundational in creating a culture that values collaboration and comprehensive care across disciplines.
The goal would be for future physicians to seamlessly integrate behavioral health concepts into their practice, prioritizing them as part of comprehensive patient care. The objective measure of success will be when patients experience unfragmented but cohesive healthcare, where their physical and behavioral health needs are treated as interconnected, not separate.
Can you share an experience that shaped your understanding of integrated behavioral healthcare?
A memorable moment on my DBH journey was when my abstract was accepted for a digital poster presentation for the ICICI25 (International Conference on Integrated Care). Acceptance into an international integrated conference is validating and confirming that my interest in helping to revamp our healthcare system is relevant and necessary. The poster presentation is Rooting Resilience: Cultivating Mental Health and Physical Health to Safeguard Kidney Function. This topic is close to home as not only did I have a family member who suffers from chronic kidney disease, but I have also had friends who suffer from kidney failure, and we’re fortunate to receive a kidney transplant. Some of their medical conditions were genetic and unavoidable, but many of the patients with chronic kidney disease also have Co-occurring chronic illnesses that are preventable. The goal would be to educate physicians, generalists, internists, pediatricians, and GYNs on screening and recognizing the beginning symptoms of chronic diseases as fundamental in detecting the start of chronic kidney disease.
What fuels your passion for advancing integrated behavioral health, and how do you stay motivated?
Often, the occurrence of comorbidity of mental and physical symptoms is not as recognizable in medical settings, and changes in assessment approaches are needed to improve patient prognosis. Over the last year as a DBH-C, my motivation has increased as I am more involved with my patients and have proven some success. My interest in the patient’s health disparities drives me to be more involved in their healthcare, not just their mental health. Providing psychotherapy over a decade after working in multidisciplinary teams has afforded me to be hands-on in the best practice for patients. Encouraging patients to sign releases for collaboration with their physicians, psychiatrists, pediatricians, and even school personnel (for younger patients) has proven effective in treatment, aside from encouraging the patient to self-advocate. Although this is not an integrated approach, it is a collaborative approach that is a step away from being siloed.
What innovative approaches or strategies do you believe can revolutionize the behavioral health landscape?
My approach to revolutionizing healthcare has two parts. The first part is providing quality care by using patient outcomes based on aftercare surveys on provider care, and the second is providing education to medical providers on utilizing patient outcomes to improve quality care to meet the needs of the patients efficiently. Research shows that it is necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of communication between the patient and provider. Without evidence-based practices and systematic reviews, the definition of quality cannot be measured. With the current system where physicians focus on how to “fix” the patient, we will continue to stumble upon the same issues. Disrupting this pattern of problem-focus to strength-based holistic care is the goal. Delivering efficient and relevant provider education, successful patient outcomes, improving patient-provider communication, and increasing access to healthcare through health literacy are some ways that I can transform healthcare.
What are your future career goals, and how do you envision the DBH program contributing to your success?
My vision is to go beyond an advocate for my patients, and instead of calling team meetings, as we all work in silos, work in hospital systems, family practice, or a pediatrician’s office to bring more of an integrated approach systematically. The other option is to remain an entrepreneur and continue instructing on the collegiate level to bring more DBHs to the integrated healthcare field while contracting with healthcare systems delivering provider education and quality improvement projects to transform the healthcare setting.
What advice would you give to prospective students or professionals considering the DBH program?
The advice I would have to offer fellow students and professionals who are interested in the DBH program would be to understand that there is great responsibility in becoming a disruptor of the healthcare system and without the coursework and encouragement to shift my silo thinking into an integrative approach, it would have been more challenging to make the impact of which I feel our system is in dire need. Our role as a DBH is more than just focusing on integrated behavioral healthcare within primary care; it is also focusing on all issues in life stressors that arise and impact our patients. Many of my colleagues in my cohort are clinicians, ABAs, nurse practitioners, and educators in the school, and collective backgrounds are required to make an impact on employing evidence-based practices and quality improvement approaches to disrupt our healthcare system.
Nikole R. Jiggetts exemplifies the profound impact that integrative, person-centered care can have in reshaping our healthcare landscape. With a steadfast commitment to equity, innovation, and collaboration, she is not only addressing complex behavioral health challenges but also paving the way for systemic transformation. Her work reminds us that disrupting the status quo requires both courage and compassion—qualities she brings to every facet of her professional life. As she continues to lead with vision and purpose, Nikole stands as a powerful example of how Doctors of Behavioral Health can bridge gaps in care, advance health equity, and build a future where holistic, integrated care is not the exception but the standard.
Connect with Nikole R. Jiggetts
- Instagram: @replay_counseling
Linkedin: Nikole Jiggetts
Website: replaycounselingcenter.com