Name
CoCM Without Cultural Responsiveness Is Half the Model: Building Integrated Care That Actually Reaches Everyone
Description

This presentation challenges behavioral health leaders and clinicians to recognize that the Collaborative Care Model's evidence base was not built with marginalized communities in mind — and that without cultural responsiveness, even well-implemented CoCM will fall short for the patients who need it most. Drawing on 20 years of clinical leadership and CoCM expertise, Giorgio Chatelain examines how race, gender norms, historical trauma, and systemic mistrust shape patient engagement, and offers concrete adaptations to make integrated care more equitable. Attendees leave with practical tools, a team culture framework, and a clear lens for evaluating whether their CoCM implementation is truly closing health disparities — or quietly widening them.

Speakers
Giorgio Chatelain, LCSW
Content Level
All Audience
Tags
Collaborative Care Model of Integrated Care, Cultural Safety and Humility, Patient-centered care or Patient perspectives
Session Type
Concurrent
Objective 1
Apply a structured Cultural Responsiveness Audit to their organization's CoCM implementation, identifying specific workflow gaps — in warm handoffs, care management relationships, and measurement practices — that may be reducing engagement and outcomes for racially, ethnically, and culturally diverse patient populations.
Objective 2
Demonstrate culturally responsive communication strategies within integrated care settings, including adapted warm handoff language and trust-building approaches that account for medical mistrust, historical trauma, gender norms, and family-centered values across Black, Latinx, and other underserved communities.
Objective 3
Implement a team-level Equity Lens Case Review Protocol that embeds cultural responsiveness into existing CoCM supervision and case review structures, shifting cultural accountability from individual clinician awareness to a shared, measurable team practice.
Content Reference 1

Bao, Y., Alexopoulos, G. S., Casalino, L. P., Ten Have, T. R., Donohue, J. M., Post, E. P., Schackman, B. R., & Bruce, M. L. (2011). Collaborative depression care management and disparities in depression treatment and outcomes. Archives of General Psychiatry, 68(6), 627–636. https://doi.org/10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2011.52

Content Reference 2

Kovachy, B., Bergman, A., Scharf, D. M., & Watkins, K. E. (2023). Does use of primary care-based behavioral health programs differ by race and ethnicity? Evidence from a multi-site collaborative care model. Healthcare (Amsterdam), 11(2), 100676. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hjdsi.2022.100676

Content Reference 3

Pederson, A. B., Becker, T. D., Haj-Hassan, S., & Barksdale, C. L. (2025). Medical mistrust and willingness to use mental health services among a cohort of Black adults. Psychiatric Services, 76(4), 318–325. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.20230538