Developing a behavioral health workforce for team based care.

This is an introduction to the special issue "Innovations in Developing a Behavioral Health Workforce for Team Based Care." The purpose of this special issue was to highlight emerging research and projects to address workforce shortages and innovations in training paradigms, including those that could address the need for increased diversity. In this introduction, the authors spotlight some of the key themes as well as a few of the noticeable gaps they found as they completed this project. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Enhancing equity, diversity, and inclusion in Families, Systems, & Health.

Our annual coeditors' retreat is a time to step back from the words on the page and reflect on our values for this work. Our values set the course for goals and subsequent actions for the year. In our 3 days away from the office to focus on the journal, we have the quiet space to set intentions. Then, we set timelines, we send emails, we put things in motion. We came to this year's retreat prepared to consider a critical topic: equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). That Families, Systems, & Health (FSH) recruit, welcome, review, and publish science that is representative of the widest range of experience and perspective is a core value for us as coeditors. We feel we have a moral and ethical obligation as leaders, scientists, and humans, to pursue social justice and equitable health outcomes for all. Such efforts are needed to help rectify the longstanding history of systemic racism and discrimination against minoritized communities that continues even today. In the context of recent events including protests against racial injustices as well as health disparities experienced by people of color during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the scientific community is realizing we can no longer remain bystanders. Our role as coeditors of a journal affords the opportunity to support equitable and inclusive practices representing a diverse array of individuals and communities throughout the peer review and publication process, which not only enhances equity but also improves science. In exploratory conversations with our leadership team (i.e., coeditors, associate editors, and department editors) and editorial board, we knew that all of us were of a mind in our values and aspirations to improve EDI in FSH. We write this editorial to transparently communicate in a way that provides context for recent and upcoming changes in journal processes designed to support EDI. We want to clearly state our intentions to work on improving EDI throughout all aspects of FSH. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Lessons from the team care playbook: Recommendations for COVID-19 vaccination dissemination and uptake.

For too many of us, the implications of a worldwide pandemic unfolded in graduated stages of understanding that seemed too sluggish for the opponent we faced. For too many of us, even those of us in health care, the unfolding was terrifying; we felt blindsided and unprepared. If coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) were a bully picking a fight, they got the first punch in before we even raised a fist. Now, many rounds in, health care teams will have an opportunity to deploy a new weapon against COVID-19. Vaccines are coming. We do not know when, who will pay for them, or the logistical aspects (e.g., storage and administration). We do not even know how effective they will be. Moreover, we must plan for mass vaccination in a chaotic and politically charged context that bears little resemblance to the ones with which we have experience. Nevertheless, in this fight, vaccines could be our winning blow. We are getting better at working with unknowns and in disrupted environments during COVID-19. We have some time to prepare, and we have some extant knowledge and experience in vaccine distribution and uptake. Health care teams can use these to best their adversary, and we can and should begin now. The aim of this article is to discuss how to mobilize interprofessional teams within systems of care to engage best practices in vaccine dissemination and uptake in the unique COVID-19 context. We begin by discussing challenges to dissemination and uptake and then provide solutions using our experiences in the primary care system. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).