Students, faculty, and field instructors from UNC-Chapel Hill, N.C. State, N.C. Central, N.C. A&T and UNC-Greensboro, as well as community members attended the first UNC-PrimeCare workshop of the year on Sept. 9. The workshop, “Health Care for North Carolina’s Most Vulnerable Citizens; the Intersection of Macro and Micro Practice,” featured speakers, Lisa Nesbitt, an attorney from Disability Rights North Carolina, and Bryan Hatcher, chief operating officer with CareNet Counseling at Wake Forest Baptist Health.
Nesbitt shared information about the state’s LME/MCOs, the organizations that administer behavioral health services for clients receiving Medicaid and state-funded services. She highlighted the availability of federal Medicaid benefits for children under age 21 through Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment.
Hatcher spoke about the ways he and his team have successfully addressed the needs of their community by co-locating and integrating medical and behavioral health services in several locations. He also highlighted several initiatives that bring community-based support teams directly to the homes of clients who need medical and behavioral health services.
The School of Social Work’s federally-funded UNC-PrimeCare program aims to train groups of social work students to deliver integrated behavioral health services in primary care settings, with a goal toward increasing the local and national behavioral health workforce. The fall workshop was just one of the many supplemental trainings that PrimeCare students will participate in during the current academic year.
