Primary care providers often encounter mental health concerns in their daily practice, yet many lack training to address them directly. A new UW Medicine fellowship program is working to change that, training primary care providers—including doctors, nurse practitioners, osteopaths, and physician assistants—to assess and offer treatment for common mental health conditions instead of simply referring patients to specialists.
Program Design and Scope
Run by UW Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and founded by Dr. Ramanpreet Toor, the fellowship launched in January and has trained 28 people across two six-month sessions. The program is free to anyone who practices medicine in Washington and requires no prior mental health treatment experience. Training spans six months entirely online, combining self-guided coursework like recorded videos and slideshows with monthly virtual sessions led by Toor covering different topics.
The curriculum focuses on four main mental health areas: mood disorders such as depression or bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, trauma, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Each session covers assessment and evaluation methods, patient communication strategies, and treatment approaches ranging from medication to psychosocial interventions.
Addressing a Critical Need
According to Dr. Toor, “Access to care is actually the bigger goal, because access to care, especially in mental health, is so limited.” She emphasizes that the goal is for primary care providers to “take the first two steps”—if patients improve, that’s successful; if not, they can be referred to a psychiatrist. This builds on the “collaborative care model” developed by the University of Washington about 20 years ago, which pairs psychiatric providers with primary care providers and behavioral health managers.
Primary care nurse practitioner Julie Suter noted that mental and physical health are inextricably linked. “I would say 75% of primary visits include mental health or behavioral health concerns,” she observed, citing conditions ranging from diabetes and autoimmune disorders to substance use disorders. Participants report the training has given them more confidence in prescribing and managing medication and learning about mental health counseling resources to recommend.
Future Direction
Currently, more than half the program’s participants have come from King County, with nearly all from Western Washington. Dr. Toor hopes to expand participation from rural areas in future trainings. The program demonstrates a path to integrating mental health screening into routine physical checkups, helping people feel more comfortable discussing these concerns with trusted primary care providers.
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://www.columbian.com/news/2025/dec/24/uw-medicine-program-helps-primary-care-providers-treat-mental-health/