Collaborative Care
Individuals living with poor mental health conditions
Recovery program to improve health through collaboration of health providers
Providing recovery pathways through team-based treatment plans
Collaborative Care (CoCM) for Mental Health is a team-based, integrated approach to treating mental health conditions, especially in primary care settings. It is designed to improve access to mental health services by coordinating care between primary care providers (PCPs), mental health specialists, and care managers.
Evidence Base
For individuals living with severe mental illnesses requiring intensive care, the collaborative care approach would establish a link between specialised care providers and general hospitals for inpatient care, which would be affordable and accessible to where the individual resides. Tools such as tele-ICU services, like the 10BEDICU(10 Bed ICU, 2024) model, where more centrally located specialists provide real-time guidance to non-specialist physicians at these general hospitals for long-term recovery. Such a collaborative care model is a feasible and significantly more effective alternative for utilising resources and improving mental health outcomes than the usual care (Archer et al., 2012; Jacob et al., 2012; Thota et al., 2012; Unützer et al., 2002; Woltmann et al., 2012)