In Alabama, where health disparities are significant, little is known about the current capacities or needs of community health centers (CHCs) in terms of behavioral health. Associations to organize and advocate for CHCs operate at the national and state levels; the Alabama Primary Health Care Association (APHCA) serves CHCs across the state. In this project, the University of Alabama will work with APHCA to conduct a comprehensive behavioral health needs assessment of Alabama CHCs regarding integration, with dissemination and discussion to follow. Initial training in a behavioral health intervention (behavioral management of chronic pain) will be accomplished via the APHCA learning community platform. Lessons learned from such efforts could provide a model for national behavioral health integration in CHCs.

The projected outputs from this project are the establishment of learning communities for community health centers to share ideas and goals for implementation strategies for CER-derived services; and a training workshop in behavior health intervention through a learning community platform. 

Project collaborators include the Alabama Primary Health Care Association; Whatley Health Services, Inc.; The Wellness Coalition; Franklin Primary Health Center; Health Services, Inc.; Quality of Life Health Services, Inc.; Public Health Service-grantee networks; and multiple patient partners. 

More on This Project

Project Resource: ALHEALTH Poster Presentation

Project Resource: ALHEALTH Presentation Deck