TPC Journal-Vol 10- Issue 3-FULL ISSUE

312 The Professional Counselor | Volume 10, Issue 3 to separate from all but two field placement sites that lacked an on-site BHC to provide supervision. The inclusion of a BHC to supervise became a requirement for all the new sites we partnered with in Year 2. Additionally, we made modifications to our grant funding allocations to support graduate assistantships focused on supervision for two of the four doctoral supervisors utilized in Year 1. Challenge: Knowledge About PCBH and the BHC Role We encountered internal and external gaps in knowledge about the PCBH model, the BHC role, and the general culture of primary care settings. Internally, members of our faculty less connected to PITCH expressed support but also concern about alignment of PITCH training experiences and the experiences of other counseling students. Specific points of concern related to the brevity of visits, frequency of single encounters with patients, and the underpinning medical model. Additionally, because of patient privacy restrictions, PITCH field placement sites do not permit audio or video recording of clinical work, which is a typical supervision practice for counseling trainees. PITCH trainees also expressed some tension between the professional identity and skills training obtained in the CMHC program to date with the PCBH model and BHC role. Externally, we observed varying degrees of provider knowledge and buy-in about the PCBH approach to integrated practice. Areas of provider disconnect were more prominent at placement sites without existing integrated primary care services. Solution: Ongoing Education and Advocacy At the internal level, we provided a brief educational session about the PCBH model at regular faculty meetings. It was important to emphasize PCBH as a different context of practice that, similar to school counseling, requires modes of practice outside of traditional 50-minute sessions. We also sought faculty consultation related to curriculum and structure for our specialized coursework. For example, faculty members expressed concern about missing opportunities for recorded patient visits, so we developed two assignments for the clinical courses that could meet this need. The first was a mock visit with a classmate that was video recorded and transcribed. Students then analyzed micro-skills and reflected. The second assignment consisted of a live observation by the university- or site-based supervisors of the trainee’s work on-site with a patient. We also encountered various levels of provider buy-in at our different sites. We encouraged students to reframe this resistance as an opportunity for learning and advocacy. As students gained knowledge about what we call the primary care way , students could better contextualize the questions or concerns of providers. For example, students could understand the premiums placed on time and space. From this position, students could tailor their approach to PCPs to enhance the PCP workflow. Additionally, faculty and supervisors emphasized the importance of ongoing psychoeducation about the PCBH model to their teams. Students are encouraged to be proactive in reviewing daily patient schedules for prospective services (i.e., scrubbing the schedule ) and educating providers about how BHC services can augment patient care. The use of the BHC competency tools also facilitated this process, which encouraged students to consistently engage in behaviors conducive to BHC practice. Challenge: Shortage of Spanish-Speaking Service Providers A final challenge we faced related to a shortage of Spanish-speaking service providers. Some sites offered formal translation services (i.e., in-person medical translator, phone- or tablet-based translators), while others utilized informal resources (i.e., other staff members). When placing students, we prioritized placement of bilingual trainees at locations with the greatest number of Spanish-speaking patients. However, we were not able to accommodate all sites.