A new doctoral program at the Campbell University medical school brings behavioral health professionals into traditional healthcare settings to address mental health issues and overall health through comprehensive, team-based care.
With a primary focus on training professionals in integrated behavioral health, the program also has a focus on physician and healthcare-provider wellness..
The program, Doctor of Behavioral Health (DBH), is designed to simultaneously address mental health needs and health behavior changes via an interdisciplinary curriculum covering, for example, behavioral health integration, health behaviors and changes, program development, leadership, collaboration and interdisciplinary teamwork.
Graduates can go on to roles such as clinical director, integrated behavioral health clinician and chief wellness officer, or they could choose academics or private practice.
In development starting from 2023, Campbell University gave final approval to the program earlier this year.
The Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine (CUSOM) will begin reviewing applications in December for the online cohort, consisting of about six students for the fall 2026 cohort and increasing to 12 students for fall 2027.
Dr. Jeff Krepps, director of Behavioral Health Education and associate professor of Behavioral Health at the med school, was integral in developing the program. He will take the lead in overseeing and administering the novel program, which is unique because it provides real-world, hands-on learning in a medical school setting.
It is the only such program housed in a medical school, said Krepps, who offered an example of how that benefits students.
“We have the chair of Pediatrics, who will talk about behavioral health and pediatrics. So, we have something that none of the other programs have …. by being here,” he said. “The other thing is we really believe integrated behavioral health fits well with the osteopathic medicine philosophy.
“Osteopaths are more systemic; they’re more focused on wellness. And there’s a variety of things that fits with their philosophy that we think lines up well with the integrated behavioral health movement in terms of developing those collaborative- and team-based kinds of healthcare approaches, which is something that we also feel like is going to be unique about what we’re doing here.”
One primary goal is for graduates to work collaboratively with doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals in myriad areas of healthcare.
An overarching goal, Krepps said, is training professionals to work in integrated behavioral health settings while providing comprehensive health care with an interdisciplinary team.
Another piece of the program focuses on physician and healthcare provider wellness, which is designed to combat things such as burnout and a desire to leave the profession.
A 2023 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that large numbers of doctors now hope to leave clinical practice, according to The Boston Globe. Of the nearly 19,000 physicians surveyed, “approximately one-third reported moderate or greater intention to leave.”
“Burnout and lack of professional fulfillment appeared particularly likely to spur that intention. Among specialists, anesthesiologists, pulmonologists and ER doctors reported high levels of burnout. According to one report, more than 70,000 physicians — over 6 percent of the country’s physicians — left medicine just between 2021 and 2022.”
The Akron Beacon-Journal writes that, according to the American Nurses Association, chronic understaffing in health care settings is leading to extreme levels of nurse burnout, which compromises patient care and health care worker sustainability.
“This phenomenon is becoming increasingly common, with almost two-thirds of all nurses — including 69% of younger nurses under 25 — reporting experiences of nurse burnout. The resulting emotional exhaustion, detachment from patients and reduced sense of self-actualization have become prominent problems for health care systems.”
The mental health profession around the country, Krepps says, too, is understaffed.
“There’s a shortage of providers, so that’s one piece of it,” he said. “The other piece of it is the program focuses on training our students primarily to work in integrated behavioral health situations or settings.”
The DBH program is based mostly on an asynchronous learning model, though, Krepps says, the program will incorporate synchronous components, as well. Students, for example, may meet to discuss readings and engage in group projects.
The new CUSOM program, its website page says, is committed to providing students with the best possible preparation to take the learned knowledge and skills into the workforce and make a positive impact through creative and innovative problem-solving, expert professional practice and effective leadership in the organizations and environments where they work.
Each student will have a faculty mentor, said Krepps, adding that building relationships and learning from one another are key.
Applicants who have earned a license in a mental health-related field can apply to complete the program on one of two tracks: clinical and administrative.
“The clinical track … is more the behavioral health side of it, the mental health side of it,” Krepps said.
That track requires a master’s degree in a mental health discipline, such as family therapy, professional counseling, or clinical social work. Applicants for the administrative track will have earned an accredited graduate degree in a healthcare or mental health related discipline.
For the clinical track, “You have to have a mental health foundation,” Krepps said. “What our program really does is, we take that foundation they get in their master’s program, and we really try to hone in to help them utilize their skills and adapt their skills to better fit a medical environment.”