Health disparities in primary care remain a continual challenge for both practitioners and patients alike. Integrating mental health services into routine patient care has been one approach to address such issues, including access to care, stigma of health-care providers, and facilitating underserved patients’ needs. This article addresses examples of training programs that have included mental health learners and licensed providers into family medicine residency training clinics. Descriptions of these models at two Midwestern Family Medicine residency clinics in the United States are highlighted. Examples of cross-training both medical residents and mental health students are described, detailing specific areas where this integration improves mental health and medical outcomes in patients. Challenges to effective integration are discussed, including larger system buy-in, medical providers’ knowledge of mental health treatment, and the skills for clinical providers to possess in order to present mental health options to patients. Patients who traditionally experience multiple barriers to mental health treatment now have increased access to comprehensive care. As a result of more primary care clinics ascribing to an integrated care model of practice, providers may benefit from not only increased coordination of patient services but also utilizing behavioral health professionals to address health barriers in patients’ lives.

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Training physicians to effectively assess, diagnose, and treat patients' behavioral health concerns begin in residency. While this training is increasingly more common in outpatient educational settings, there is also a great need to teach physicians to practice behavioral medicine with patients who are hospitalized. However, teaching family medicine resident physicians to understand, value, and practice essential behavioral health knowledge and skills during inpatient rotations can be a challenge for both residents and educators. In this article, we describe three models of inpatient behavioral medicine teaching, each with examples of practical content and teaching methods. We discuss strategies for success and potential barriers to overcome while teaching in the inpatient setting. Helping patients choose to change their health behaviors, which likely contribute in part to the reasons for their hospitalizations in the first place, should begin while patients are still in the hospital. Models of teaching, such as those presented here, can help improve the way we train physicians to address behavioral health needs with hospitalized patients.

The Forum for Behavioral Science in Family Medicine was established in 1980 to create opportunities for behavioral scientists to share their work, collaborate with others, and find support. Over four decades, the Forum grew from a local gathering of colleagues to a meeting with presenters and participants from around the globe. Presentations furthered the scientific basis of what we do while supporting the dissemination of creative and meaningful methods for educating physicians, caring for patients, and maintaining wellbeing. 2019 marked the 40th anniversary of the Forum with the theme The Evidence, the Art, the Outcomes. This special issue of The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine presents nine articles drawn from that conference. Strong threads of behavioral science have run through the tapestry of family medicine since its establishment as a specialty in 1969. 1 Like the strong vertical warp threads of a tapestry, scientific evidence creates a necessary framework. Behavioral scientists joined the faculty of residency programs and medical schools. They conducted research in communication skills, educational strategies, behavior change counseling, family systems, disparities, the treatment of psychiatric disorders, and wellbeing. This scholarship contributed to the strong foundational warp in family medicine's tapestry alongside other medical topics.

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