Reaching across the chasm: Mental Health Care, Primary Care and Cultural Awareness Initiatives in one Community Health Care Center

Within the health care delivery system, there has been an artificial divide between primary care, mental health care and increased provider cultural awareness, competency and practice. This divide makes it difficult to meet the challenge of decreasing the numbers of individuals in this country who experience health disparities.

It is possible that health care providers who ‘bundle' services and incorporate a culture of increased cultural awareness and sensitivity can help to mitigate some negative health outcomes with at risk populations. Efforts to support improved integration of these services are increasing through the efforts of federal, state and local government offices as well as within health care systems and organizations providing health care.

This presentation will describe the actions of the mental health task force of the National Nursing Center Consortium to better understand current practice and support increased cultural awareness within the centers Information will be presented on the process involved in the development of the mental health and primary care collaboration and the ongoing efforts to support increased primary and mental health care integration and cultural awareness, sensitivity and practice within this center and within the consortium. . The efforts of one federally qualified nursing health care center will be presented as one example of this initiative.