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Collaborative Family Healthcare Association

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Integrated Psychiatric Consultation: Dual Certification Training Program

Calling all psychiatrists and psychiatric healthcare professionals! Advance your expertise in integrated psychiatric consultation and deliver high-impact care with confidence. 

CFHA’s expert-led, case-based online program is designed for psychiatrists and psychiatric healthcare professionals ready to lead in integrated care. This dual certification program provides the skills, evidence-based frameworks, and communication strategies you need to consult effectively across a wide range of medical settings with no prior integrated care experience required. Whether you are an experienced consultant seeking to sharpen your approach or a newcomer looking for a clear starting point, this course will equip you to step confidently into your role and make a measurable impact.

What You’ll Gain

  • Continuing Medical Education: Six CME credits available through the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP).
  • Case-Based Learning: Build skills through realistic mini-vignettes and role-played scenarios.
  • Consultation Mastery: Develop competency in both indirect (curbside, e-consult) and direct (evaluation) consultation.
  • CoCM Expertise: Learn to thrive as a core member of CoCM teams and expand your marketable skill set.
  • Flexible Format: Complete six asynchronous modules at your own pace, on your own schedule.
  • Interactive Learning: Join two live group consultation calls to apply concepts and network with peers nationwide.
  • Dual Certification: Earn General Psychiatric Consultation and CoCM Psychiatric Consultation certificates.

Laura Sidari, MD

Jennifer Thomas MD, FASAM

Laura Sidari, MD

Dr. Laura Sidari, MD is a board-certified General Psychiatrist with additional specialized training and experience in Integrated Psychiatric Consulting. She has diverse clinical practice and leadership experience across military, college health, and community healthcare settings. Dr. Sidari is the director for Cayuga Integrated Behavioral Health (CIBH), which makes available integrated behavioral healthcare to tens of thousands of patients across Cayuga Health’s multi-site, not-for-profit, primary care network in Central New York. She leads a multi-professional behaviorist team that consists of psychologists, social workers, mental health counselors, and psychiatrists who provide Primary Care Behavioral Health (PCBH) and Collaborative Care Model (CoCM) services within affiliate primary care practices. Dr. Sidari is an active member of the Collaborative Family Healthcare Association (CFHA), to include serving as a national conference presenter. Separate from her clinical work, she offers nationwide technical consultative services to support individuals and healthcare systems in integrated care development as a member of Sidari Consultants, LLC.

Jennifer Thomas MD, FASAM

Dr. Jennifer Thomas, MD, FASAM is board-certified in family medicine and addiction physician and currently serves as Medical Director of Integrated Behavioral Health at Morris Hospital in Morris, IL. She completed her medical degree at SIU School of Medicine in Springfield, IL in 2007, and completed her family medicine residency at Hinsdale Hospital outside Chicago in 2010.

Dr. Thomas practices in a community-based, rural setting and is passionate about integrating behavioral health services into primary care. She completed the 2018 University of California Irvine Train New Trainers Primahry Care Psychiatry Fellowship. As a leader in developing partnerships between academic research settings and community-based providers, Dr. Thomas works closely with the University of Washington AIMS Center. Dr. Thomas serves as Project Lead for Morris Hospital’s partnership with the AIMS Center’s NIMH-sponsored research study CHAMP: Collaborating to Heal Addiction and Mental Health in Primary Care. As an advocate for increasing access to medication for Opioid Use Disorder, particularly in rural settings, Dr. Thomas was part of an inaugural cohort of 5 IL physicians supported by ISAM to become board-certified in Addiction Medicine through the ABPM Practice Pathway.

Dr. Thomas also serves at the National Medical Co-Director of Integrated Care at CFHA.

Learn More and Register Here

Course Structure

This course includes six asynchronous learning modules and two live virtual consultation calls (accessible for one year), led by faculty experts Dr. Laura Sidari and Dr. Jennifer Thomas, with guest BHCM Daniela Vela Hernandez, LMFT.

Session 1: Foundations of Psychiatric Consultation

Objectives:

  • Define the psychiatric consultant’s role on the integrated care team
  • Identify characteristics of an effective psychiatric consultant
  • Introduction to the full range of consultative supports
  • Explore the referring provider’s perspective
  • Understand practical steps for launching your consulting career

Description:

This opening session sets the stage for your consulting journey. You’ll gain clarity on your role, understand what referring providers need most, and learn how to align your expertise with team goals. Practical guidance will help you take concrete steps toward building your consulting practice, while case examples illustrate what makes psychiatric consultants effective collaborators.

Session 2: Curbside Consultation in Action

Objectives: 

  • Describe the role of curbside discussions along the psychiatric consultation continuum
  • Recognize opportunities and common pitfalls in brief curbside interactions
  • Learn concise, effective communication strategies through case examples

Description:

Brief, informal conversations can make a big difference. This session focuses on optimizing curbside consultations to deliver quick, actionable guidance that drives better care decisions. Through interactive, case-based scenarios, you’ll learn how to provide clarity, build trust with referring providers, and enhance patient outcomes in just a few minutes.

Session 3: Maximizing Electronic Consultation and Direct Evaluations

Objectives:

  • Explain the role of electronic consultations (e-consults) and one-time direct evaluations in integrated care
  • Assess when and how to use each format effectively
  • Apply best practices through case-based demonstrations

Description:

E-consults and direct evaluations are powerful tools for extending psychiatric expertise. This session explores how to strategically use these approaches, either independently or within a stepped-care model, to meet the needs of diverse patient populations. Real-world examples illustrate how to streamline communication, document efficiently, and expand your consultative reach.

Session 4: The Psychiatric Consultant in CoCM

Objectives:

  • Clearly define your role as a psychiatric consultant on CoCM teams
  • Understand how consultant activities influence outcomes and population health
  • Master core CoCM activities, documentation, and communication techniques

Description:

As a psychiatric consultant in CoCM, you are the clinical anchor of a proven, evidence-based model. This session teaches you how to partner effectively with primary care providers and behavioral health care managers, conduct impactful case reviews, and make treatment recommendations that move population health metrics. Practical strategies will help you maximize your impact on both individual patients and the system as a whole.

Session 5: Systematic Case Reviews in CoCM

Objectives:

  • Identify best practices for Collaborative Care Model (CoCM) Systematic Case Review (SCR)
  • Outline considerations for SCR documentation
  • Understand dynamic SCR processes for the Behavioral Health Care Manager (BHCM) and Psychiatric Consultant (PC) through real-time, role-play demonstrations

Description:

Systematic Case Reviews (SCRs) are the heartbeat of Collaborative Care. This session will teach you how to prepare for, lead, and document SCRs to optimize patient outcomes. Through live demonstrations and role-play, you’ll see how psychiatric consultants and care managers can work together to streamline workflows, close care gaps, and prioritize patients for stepped-up treatment.

Session 6: Integrated Psychiatric Consultation in the Real World

Objectives:

  • Consolidate key lessons through rich, case-based examples grounded in clinical expertise and evidence
  • Apply consultation strategies across multiple integrated care models, including but not limited to CoCM
  • Develop actionable approaches for using consultative skills in primary care, specialty medicine, and emerging care settings

Description:

This capstone session ties everything together, focusing on real-world implementation. Participants will explore how to adapt consultation strategies to diverse models of care, from primary care to specialty medicine. By the end of this session, you’ll leave with a practical, evidence-informed framework to deliver confident, high-impact consultation that drives measurable outcomes across the healthcare continuum.

Learn More and Register Here
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