Therapist vs. Integrated Health Specialist: What They Do and Why You Might Work with Both at Cummins
If you receive services at Cummins Behavioral Health, you’ll probably meet more than one professional on your care team. Two titles you might hear a lot in our outpatient offices are mental health therapist (or simply “therapist”) and integrated health specialist (or “IHS” for short).
Therapists and IHSs are both important members of your care team. Both will speak with you about what’s going on in your life and help you set goals for your treatment. Because there is some overlap between the two roles, it’s not unusual to wonder:
- Who does what?
- Why do I need to see both?
- Is one of them “in charge” of my care?
If you’ve had any of these questions on your mind, then this post is for you! Below, we’ll explain how therapists and integrated health specialists work at Cummins, what each role focuses on, and how they fit together as part of your care team.
Two Providers, One Unified Care Team
At Cummins, multiple service providers work together to form your care team. No single person is expected to handle all aspects of your care. Instead, each provider has a specific focus to support your mental health and overall well-being.
Your therapist focuses on guiding you through the emotional and psychological work of recovery. What this looks like will vary depending on your specific needs, but some common examples include:
- Helping you understand your mental health challenges, especially the ways that your thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and life experiences affect each other
- Helping you process difficult experiences like trauma, grief, relationship struggles, or major life changes
- Treating your symptoms with evidence-based therapies like cognitive-behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, internal family systems, and more
- Assessing your risk for behaviors that could hurt your health and intervening to keep you safe
By contrast, your integrated health specialist is your point person for coordinating your care and providing practical support for your treatment. Their job is to make sure you are getting all your needs met at Cummins. This might look like:
- Completing assessments when you enter services and creating a care plan that matches your goals
- Helping you schedule appointments with any and all providers on your care team
- Teaching you coping strategies, mood management, time management, communication skills, or daily and weekly routines that will help you have more success with your treatment
- Getting answers to your questions about billing, insurance coverage, co-pays, and other financial topics
- Connecting you with community services that might benefit you, such as transportation assistance, housing supports, food pantries, employment services, or physical health care
A simple way to think about it is that your therapist focuses on helping you heal and grow emotionally, while your integrated health specialist focuses on making your whole care plan work in everyday life. Both of these are important, and together, they give you a stronger support system than either could provide alone.
A Typical Session with a Therapist vs. IHS
Because therapists and IHSs have different roles, your experiences in sessions with them will usually feel different, too.
A therapy appointment often feels like a focused and supportive conversation. Usually, your therapist will begin the session by checking in on how you’ve been feeling since your last visit. Depending on your needs, the two of you might discuss recent stressors at work, home, or in your relationships; explore thoughts and beliefs that may be keeping you stuck or making your symptoms worse; or process painful experiences in a safe, structured way. At the end of the session, your therapist might give you “homework” to do between appointments, such as practicing a new coping skill or tracking your mood throughout the week.
A visit with your IHS is usually more about solving practical challenges related to your life and your treatment. For example, your IHS might ask how your appointments with all of your care providers are going and if you would like to change anything. If you are struggling with daily responsibilities, they might work with you to refine your schedule or point you toward community resources that could help, or they might help you with mood management strategies that support what you are working on with your therapist. They will also take note of questions you have for other providers and relay answers to you when they receive them.
It’s normal for there to be some overlap between what the two providers do for you. For example, your IHS may listen and empathize with you when you’re having a tough day, and your therapist may help you problem-solve around routines or transportation challenges. But their primary responsibilities are different and intentionally designed to complement each other.
Real-World Example: Getting Help for Depression
To see how this works in practice, let’s look at a common situation in outpatient care.
Imagine you’re a Cummins consumer who has been struggling with depression. You’re having trouble getting out of bed some days, your motivation is low, you’re missing work more often, and everyday tasks feel overwhelming. On top of that, you’re worried about your bills and have difficulty keeping track of all your appointments.
In sessions with your therapist, you might learn how depression affects your motivation, energy levels, and concentration. You might work on identifying thoughts related to self-criticism (“I’m a failure”) and hopelessness (“Nothing will ever get better”) that are making you feel worse. Then, your therapist could teach you a cognitive strategy for challenging these thoughts, and they might ask you to practice this technique between now and your next appointment.
Meanwhile, your IHS might help you schedule your next therapy visit, making sure it doesn’t conflict with your work or other responsibilities. If you are taking medication in addition to therapy, they might help you get refills and create a schedule so you remember to take it. They might get you connected with services that can help when your depression symptoms are bad, such as transportation or food delivery services. They will also check in with you between appointments to see what’s working, what isn’t, and what needs to be adjusted.
Over time, your therapist and IHS will keep in regular contact with each other to coordinate your care. Your therapist will focus most on what’s happening inside (your thoughts, emotions, and beliefs) while your IHS will focus on what’s happening outside (your appointments, schedules, resources, and support systems). By tackling both sides at once, you’re more likely to stay engaged in treatment, make steady progress, and experience improvements that last beyond your time in services.