I recently wrote a letter to myself regarding my journey to becoming a Doctor of Behavioral Health. This letter was a vision of what will come after earning the degree (Doctor of Behavioral Health) and reflecting on the accomplishments obtained during the process. As I thought further about the content of the letter and the focus on integrated behavioral healthcare within an acute inpatient psychiatric facility, I realized that I had embraced the notion of being a disruptor within the behavioral healthcare system. Patients who return to the Emergency Department for treatment within thirty days or less for the same complaint multiple times within a one-year time frame must catch the attention of an administrator somewhere. For this discussion, I am speaking about only one unit of eight units in a psychiatric hospital. The primary treatment intervention for every patient admitted is medication to treat DSM-5 symptoms. A barrier to the effectiveness of the treatment team is that the patient, in many cases, refuses to take any medication. This presents a challenge, and more times than not, it becomes a problem. The problem is that clinical social workers or behavioral health therapists (function as social workers) do not function in the capacity of clinical practitioners/therapists on inpatient units when, from this writer’s perspective, it can be another therapeutic intervention option that is not offered in the treatment milieu.
A reevaluation of the efficacy and effectiveness of medication alone in acute inpatient treatment is a topic for further research about post-discharge and the length of time before subsequent readmission. An innovative approach to the role of the social worker and the behavioral therapist, who are masters-level clinicians on the unit, can add to the integrated treatment program a specific plan to improve the patient’s care, especially if the patient refuses medication through brief behavioral interventions. The multiple roles the clinical practitioners are expected to perform must be further examined to determine how they impact the efficacy of patient care and the overall effectiveness of improved inpatient care. The interventions are brief, patient-specific, and directed to change maladapted behavior to a healthier behavior, supporting a better quality of life for the patient. Changing a system’s clinical programming presents a challenging endeavor; however, redefining and reeducating of the roles of clinical social workers and behavioral health therapists (combining) to become Behavioral Health Consultants/Therapists that serves as a bold innovative approach to improvement of psychiatric inpatient care.
These clinician roles are more efficient and patient-specific in care delivery, enabling and preparing the patient to function with increased confidence as each is an active participant in one’s own care before discharge by making small behavioral changes that contribute to positive experiences and feelings about treatment. Yes, this is an introduction of a new paradigm (closely related to the primary care behavioral consultant model) of healthcare delivery, where the role of the behavioral health consultant/therapist (BHC/T) on a treatment team of clinical practitioners offers a unique inpatient approach to improve integrated behavioral healthcare which is holistic in patient-centered quality of care.
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Pursuit of Well-Being 
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