Name
Heal the Healers: Workforce Wellness in Integrated Care
Description

This session explores the growing crisis of burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and moral injury within the behavioral health workforce, particularly for clinicians embedded in integrated care settings. Drawing from current data and real-world practice, presenters will highlight the operational, cultural, and clinical drivers that erode provider well-being and compromise care quality. Participants will learn practical strategies, including measurement-based care workflows, supportive supervision models, and emotional offloading practices, that strengthen resilience and team functioning. The session emphasizes workforce wellness as an organizational imperative, not an individual responsibility, offering tools that leaders and clinicians can apply immediately. Attendees will leave with a clear roadmap for sustaining a thriving, collaborative care environment.

Speakers
Nicole McKinney, PhD, LCMHC
Samantha Smith, PMP, SHRM-CP
Content Level
All Audience
Tags
Self-care/Self-management, Training/Supervision, Workforce development
Session Type
Concurrent
Objective 1
Identify key drivers of burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and emotional load among behavioral health professionals working within integrated care settings, and describe how these factors impact clinical quality and team functioning.
Objective 2
Evaluate organizational, supervisory, and culture building practices, including supportive leadership, workflow redesign, and emotional offloading strategies that improve workforce well being and retention in interdisciplinary environments.
Objective 3
Apply integrated care–specific approaches such as warm handoffs, stepped care interventions, and measurement based care to enhance collaboration, streamline workflows, and promote sustainable wellness across behavioral and primary care teams.
Content Reference 1

Emotional Load & Compassion Fatigue. Wu & Lu (2025). Understanding Compassion Fatigue Among Social Workers. Frontiers in Psychology. frontiersin.org

Content Reference 2

High Caseloads & Increased Severity. National Council for Mental Wellbeing (2023). Behavioral Health Workforce Shortage Will Negatively Impact U.S. thenationalcouncil.org

Content Reference 3

High Caseloads & Increased Severity. National Council for Mental Wellbeing (2023). Behavioral Health Workforce Shortage Will Negatively Impact U.S. thenationalcouncil.org

Content Reference 4

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Vital Signs: Health Worker–Perceived Working Conditions and Symptoms of Poor Mental Health — Quality of Worklife Survey, United States, 2018–2022. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7244e1.htm

Content Reference 5

High Caseloads & Increased Severity. National Council for Mental Wellbeing (2023). Behavioral Health Workforce Shortage Will Negatively Impact U.S. thenationalcouncil.org