We know now that anxiety and depression are frequent comorbidities of chronic pain and illness. We also know that anxiety and depression drive cost and unnecessary health services utilization. We know that we could do more for our patients if we offered integrated models of care where we include psychosocial support and mental health to our treatment paradigm. And then we get stuck.

How do we know which mental health professionals are good?

What’s the difference between a social worker, a psychologist, a marriage and family counselor, a life or health coach?

Who would we hire and more importantly how would we pay for it? And how would these services get incorporated into clinic flow?

Could we use nurses or advanced practice providers that we already have?

Where do we begin?

IBDSF Certified was developed by Dr. Marci Reiss, a pioneer in establishing a model of psychosocial care that has now been embedded into 9 hospitals in the United States including at the Mayo Clinic, Vanderbilt University, University of Maryland Baltimore, University of California San Diego among others.

Dr. Reiss’s model of chronic illness management for Inflammatory Bowel Disease which was eventually used in Rheumatoid Arthritis and Psoriasis was published in 2015 in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. Contract with IBDSF Certified and have your patients find truly qualified mental health practitioners who are skilled in chronic pain and illness management.

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