Treating Mental Health and Substance Use: An Integrated Approach

Course overview

People often experience more than one health condition at the same time, such as a mental illness alongside a physical illness or substance use disorder. These people often face barriers to treatment and poor outcomes. Historically, providers often required a patient to be actively treated for their substance use disorder before treating their mental illness. That perspective has changed so that a person with a co-occurring disorder can access care for both disorders simultaneously. This is called integrated treatment. Integrated treatment is the gold standard for treating people with co-occurring disorders. Integrated treatment can help individuals access care, reduce suffering, and renew hope.