OUR VISION
Better health for all through integrated care solutions
OUR MISSION
We are on a mission to meet the challenges of integrating healthcare by building relationships, sharing resources and best practices, providing education, training, and advocacy for all.
The Story of ABHIN
Arkansas Behavioral Health Integration Network was started in 2019 by two passionate providers that have decades of experience in the mental health field. Kim Shuler, LCSW, and Patricia Gibson, MD, both spent years watching patients suffer due to a siloed healthcare system that considers mental, behavioral, and physical health conditions as separate and distinct from each other.
Driven by a passion for integrating behavioral health into primary care to improve patient outcomes, the two providers came together and engaged dozens of like-minded professionals. As a result of this collaboration and planning, ABHIN was created as a non-profit organization focused on promoting behavioral health integration throughout the healthcare continuum.
“For years, I have witnessed people silently suffer in a broken health system. I have also seen firsthand the difference integrated behavioral health makes in people’s lives, as our mental health is an essential part of who we are. I believe we all have to embrace the mind-body connection to achieve optimal health, and primary care is where that needs to happen.”
– Kim Shuler, LCSW
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT
Patients must wait months before they can see a mental health provider, and even longer for an MD.
We increase patient access to care by teaching primary care teams to identify and treat mental and behavioral health conditions.
Patients don’t reach out for help due to mental health stigma.
Trained primary care teams treat patients’ whole health and interact with patients in a way that reduces stigma related to mental health conditions.
When patients do ask for help, primary care providers may not be comfortable treating mental health conditions.
We teach primary care providers to identify and treat mental and behavioral health conditions to avoid escalation of symptoms and exacerbation of physical manifestations.
Standard medical training separates the mind and the body, resulting in healthcare that prescribes for symptoms instead of treating root causes.
We teach primary care teams about the physical effects of mental and behavioral health conditions and help them adopt effective workflows that find and treat root causes.
BENEFITS
Integrated Behavioral Health Can Help You:
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