Alexander Blount is Clinical Professor of Family Medicine and Psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, MA and Director of Behavioral Science in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health. He teaches physicians the psychosocial skills of primary care practice and directs the post-doctoral Fellowship in Primary Care Psychology. He was previously Director of the Family Center of the Berkshires in Pittsfield, MA and a faculty member at the Ackerman Institute for the Family in New York. He has over thirty years experience as a therapist, teacher of physicians and therapists, administrator and lecturer in the US and abroad. His books include Integrated Primary Care: The Future of Medical and Mental Health Collaboration published by W. W. Norton and Knowledge Acquisition, written with James Brule’, published by McGraw-Hill. He is Past President of the Collaborative Family Healthcare Association and is currently Editor of Families, Systems, & Health. Dr. Blount has lectured around the U.S., Canada and Europe on family therapy, systemic approaches to management, solution focused therapy and Integrated Primary Care.
Consultation and Training offered by Dr. Blount
Publications:
Gunn, W. & Blount, A. (2009). Primary care mental health: a new frontier for psychology. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 65: 235-252.
Blount, A, & Miller, B. (2009). Addressing the workforce crisis in integrated primary care. Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings, 10. 9142-7.
Blount, A. and Adler, R. (2008). A collaborative approach to somatization. In Kessler, R. and Stafford, D. (Eds), Collaborative Medicine Case Studies: Evidence in Practice. Springer, 97-104.
Blount, A., Schoenbaum, M., Kathol, R., Rollman, B., Thomas, M. O’Donohue, W., & Peek, C.J. (2007). The economics of behavioral health services in medical settings: A summary of the evidence. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 38, 290-297.
Blount, A., DeGirolamo, S. & Mariani, K. (2006). Training the collaborative care practitioners of the future. Families, Systems & Health, 24,111-119.
Blount, A. (2005, December 28). Primary care psychology: Are we there yet? [Review of the book The Handbook of Primary Care Psychology]. PsycCRITIQUES—Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books, 50 (No. 52), Article 9.
Blount,
A. Integrated Primary Care:
Organizing the Evidence. Families, Systems &
Blount, A., Thinking about mind and
body for medical psychotherapy: Toward
an integration in clinical practice.
Advances in Medical Psychotherapy,
11, 199-
Trotto,
A. (Blount, A., Isaacson, J. H., Rapport, D. J. consulting authors) “Mental
health
Blount, A. (Ed.). Integrated
Primary Care: The Future of Medical
and Mental Health
Blount, A. “Beyond philosophy: Primary care and behavioral health integration.” Behavioral Healthcare Tomorrow, October, 1997.
Blount, A. and Bayona, J.
"Toward a system of integrated primary care," Family
Brule', J. F. and Blount, A. Knowledge Acquisition, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1989
Andersen, T., Blount, A., Ben Dror, R. (1988). A local community-oriented psychiatric health service in Massachusetts, USA. [Norwegian]. Nordisk Psykiatrisk Tidsskrift. Vol 42, 225-228.
Blount, A. "A little piece of hell: Indirect therapy with a case of post-traumatic stress,"in Family Therapy: Indirect Methods, S. de Shazer (Ed.), New York: Aspen Press, 1986.
Blount, A. "Changing realities in the firm," Journal of Strategic and Systemic Therapies,Vol. 4, no. 4, 1986.
Blount, A. "Organizations: Introduction to an issue,"
Journal of Strategic and Systemic
Blount, A. "Toward a 'systemically' organized mental health center," in Applications of Systemic Therapy: The Milan Method, D. Campbell and R. Draper (Eds.), London: Grune & Strattan, 1985.
Blount, A. "Strategic therapy and the affective
experience of the therapist," Journal
of
Blount, A. Gregory Bateson and a Language for Psychotherapy. A doctoral dissertation, School of Education, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1976.
Presentations
National Conferences:
“Integrated Primary Care: From Interesting Add-on to Core Service in the Patient Centered Medical Home.” Invited Plenary Address. Form on Behavioral Science in Family Medicine, Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, Chicago, 2008.
“Training Mental Health Professionals to Succeed as Behavioral Health Clinicians in Primary Care” Invited presentation at the NCCBH Conference, Boston, 2008.
“Training the Collaborative Practitioners of Tomorrow,” Workshop at the Collaborative Family Healthcare Association Conference, Asheville, NC, 2007.
“Models of Integration: Lessons Learned,” Mental Health America Training Conference, Arlington, VA, 2007.
“Advocating for Collaborative Care,” Workshop at the Collaborative Family Healthcare Association Conference, Asheville, NC, 2007.
“Toward Integration,” Keynote address to the Primary Care-Mental Health Integration Conference of the Dept. of Veterans Affairs, Denver, 2007.
“Teaching Team Care for the Future of Family Medicine,” Poster at Society of Teachers of Family Medicine Annual Conference, Chicago, 2007.
“The Team as the Unit of Relating in the Future of Family Medicine,” with Nellie Freydin, PsyD, and Christopher Wheelock, MD, STFM Conference on Families and Health, Austin, 2007.
“Current State of Collaborative Healthcare,” Collaborative Family Healthcare Association Conference, Newport, RI, 2006
“Integrated Primary Care: Adjusting to a New Model,” Plenary Address, Veterans Administration Conference on Integrated Healthcare, Albany, NY, 2006
“Integrated Primary Care as the Basis for a Post-Cartesian Model of Care,” part of a panel on Integrated Primary Care with Ryan Niemiec, PhD, Susan McDaniel, PhD, Jeffery Reiter, PhD, Parinda Khatri, PhD and Mark Mengel, MD, American Psychological Association Convention, New Orleans, 2006
“Behavioral Health Needs in Primary Care,” Clinical Health Psychology Institute, American Psychological Association Convention, New Orleans, 2006
“Primary Care: An Important Setting for Corporate Behavioral Health”, The 2nd Annual Leadership Summit on Innovation in the Cost-Appropriateness of Behavioral Health & Wellness. Baltimore, 2006
“Practicing Behavioral Medicine in Primary Care” Society of Behavioral Medicine Conference, San Francisco, 2006.
“The Nitty-Gritty of Collaborative Practice in Primary Care” with Mohammed Alhabbal, MD and Luis Caraballo, PsyD, STFM Conference on Families and Health, Austin,TX, 2006.
“Marketing a Non-Profit Collaborative Organization” Collaborative Family Healthcare Association, Seattle, WA, 2005
“Basics of Practice as a Behavioral Health Provider in Primary Care” with Leonard Haas, PhD, Society of Behavioral Medicine, Boston, MA, 2005.
“Training the Collaborative Practitioners of the Future” with Nicholas Apostoleris, PhD, Kathy Mariani, MD, and Michael Rabara, PsyD. STFM Conference on Families and Health, Amelia Island, Florida, 2004.
“Introduction to Integrated Primary Care,” Society of Behavioral Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 2004.
“A Family and Community Based Approach to Universal Health Care” with Michael Fine, MD. STFM Conference on Families and Health, Kiawah Island, SC, 2003.
“Integrating Training of Psychologists into Departments of Family Medicine” with William Gunn, PhD, and David Waters, PhD, National Conference of the Collaborative Family Healthcare Association, Clearwater, FL, 2002.
“Building a Constituency for Integrated Primary Care” National Conference of the Collaborative Family Healthcare Association, Clearwater, FL, 2002.
“A Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Primary Care Psychology as a Training Intervention in a Family Practice Residency” with Peter McConnarty, MD, Alex Reed, PsyD, Conference on Families and Health, Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, San Diego, CA, 2002
“’Team Precepting’: One approach to teaching biopsychosocial collaborative practice” with Pamela Adelstein, MD, and Mark Moscovitz, MD, Society of Teachers of Family Medicine Annual Meeting Orlando, 2000.
“Home visit chart rounds as a teaching tool for first year residents” with Warren Ferguson, MD and Valerie Early, MD, STFM Annual Meeting, Orlando, 2000.
“From Collaboration to Integration in Primary Care: What’s the Protocol” The Families and Health Conference, Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, San Diego, 2000.
“Treating Depression and Somatization in Primary Care for Underserved Populations” with Jose Bayone, MD. Presented at conferences of the Association of Clinicians for the Underserved, in Dallas, Las Vegas and Seattle, 1999-2000.
“Integrated Treatment Protocols in Primary Care” Collaborative Family Healthcare Coalition Conference, Bethesda, 2000.
“Team Precepting: A Model for Teaching Collaborative Practice” with R. Adler, Society of Teachers of Family Medicine Conference, Kiawah Island, SC, 1999.
“Family Therapists in Integrated Primary Care” American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy National Conference, Dallas, 1998.
“Micro-Routines in Delivering Collaborative Health Care” with L. Mauksch and D. Waxman, Society of Teachers of Family Medicine Conference, Kiawah Island, SC, 1998.
“Training Residents for Collaborative Practice” Hinsdale Conference on Behavioral Science in Family Medicine, Chicago, IL, 1997.
“Integrating Care for ‘Non-Dichotomizing’ Populations: Latin Lessons” with Jose’ Bayona, MD, MPH, Collaborative Family Health Care Conference, Washington, DC, 1995.
“Integrating Care in a Distributed Community Health Care System: The Holyoke Infant Mortality Project” American Family Therapy Acadamy Conference on Families and Health, Captiva Island, FL., 1994.
“Solution Focused Interviewing for Primary Medical Care," Grand Rounds, Department of Family and Community Medicine, UMass Medical School, Worcester, MA. 1993.
“A Cybernetic Approach to Integrated Primary Care," American Society for Cybernetics Conference, Philadelphia, PA. 1993.
“Designing a Distributed Community Healthcare System," Partnerships in Health Care Conference, Rochester, N.Y., 1993.
“Developing a Systemically Oriented Department of Psychiatry in a Medical Center," with Carlos Sluzki, M.D., Phillip Pryjma, M.D. and David Raskin, M.D., American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy Convention, Dallas, 1991.
“The Role of Family Therapy in Deinstitutionalization," American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy Convention, San Francisco, 1989.
“Information Management Systems which Support Clinical Work," American Psychological Association Convention, New York, 1987.
“Systemic Approaches to Clinical Management," American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy Convention, Chicago, 1987.
“Systemic Therapy and Organizations: A Conceptual Overview," American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy Convention, New York, 1985.
“Epistemology and Organizational Structure," American Society for Cybernetics Conference, Philadelphia, 1984.
“Second Order Cybernetics and Family Therapy," with Lynn Hoffman, M.S.W., Karl Tomm, M.D., Paul Dell, Ph.D., and William Lax, Ph.D., Gordon Conference on Cybernetics, New Hampton, NH., 1984.
“Two Models of Live Supervision," with Evan Coppersmith (Imber-Black), Ph.D., and Janine Roberts, Ed.D., American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy Convention, San Diego, CA., 1981.
Regional and Local Conferences:
“A Workshop Curriculum in Patient Communication for Interns” with Gerry Gleich, MD. STFM Northeast Regional Conference, Cleveland, 2002.
“Teaching Residents to Communicate about Somatization and Stress Related Illness” with Ronald Adler, MD. STFM Northeast Regional Conference, Cleveland, 2002.
"A Resident-Initiated Curriculum for Discovering and Addressing School Problems" with K. Barnard and P. Krajewski. Northeast Regional Meeting, Society of Teachers of Family Medicine. Mystic, CT, 2001.
“A Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Primary Care Psychology as a Training Intervention in a Family Medicine Residency” Northeast Regional Meeting, Society of Teachers of Family Medicine. Philadelphia, 2000.
“Integrated Primary Care: The Future of Medical and Mental Health Collaboration” Annual Meeting of the Massachusetts Academy of Family Physicians, 2000.
“Population Based Primary Care Should Be Integrated Primary Care” Conference on Population Based Primary Care, Rhode Island Academy of Family Medicine, W. Greenwich, RI, 1999.
“Involving a Behavioral Health Provider, What to say to make it work.” Grand Rounds, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, UMass Memorial Health Care, 1998.
“Integrated Primary Care: What the Future Holds for Mental Health Providers” Department of Psychology, University of Hartford, West Hartford, CT, 1997
“Integrated Primary Care: What the Future Holds for Mental Health Providers” Training Consortium of Springfield, Springfield, MA, 1997
“Integrated Primary Care: The Future of Medical and Mental Health Collaboration” Grand Rounds. Department of Family Medicine, Memorial Hospital, Worcester, MA, 1997.
“Integrated Primary Care: The Future of Medical and Mental Health Collaboration” Grand Rounds. Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical Center, 1997.
“The Primary Care Physician as Psychiatrist: An Offer of Aid” Grand Rounds, Department of Medicine, Berkshire Medical Center, Pittsfield, MA, 1996.
Workshops Delivered:
“Introduction to Collaborative Care” with Claudia Grauf-Grounds, PhD, and David Stoller, MD. Collaborative Family Healthcare Association, Seattle, WA, 2005
“Basics of Collaborative Practice in Primary Care” with William Doherty, PhD, and Macaran Baird, MD. Full day pre-conference workshop at the Collaborative Family Healthcare Association, Minneapolis, MN, 2004
“An Overview of Integrated Primary Care” A two-day workshop presented in Asheville, NC.
“Providing Behavioral Health Services in Primary Care”. A one day workshop presented in Springfield, MA.
“Working with Chaotic Families.” A one to two day workshop presented in Champaign, IL, Windsor, CT, and Pittsfield, MA.
“Introduction to Solution Focused Interviewing". A one day workshop presented at the Ackerman Institute for Family Therapy in N.Y and Bristol Hospital, Bristol, CT.
“Solutions in Schools". A one/two day workshop presented in Munich, Toronto, Holyoke, MA, and Springfield, MA.
“Community Treatment of Patients with Major Mental Ilness”. A one day workshop with Raphael Ben-Dror, MSW, Ed.D. presented in Bode, Tromso and Honigsweig, Norway
“Systemic Approaches to Managing in Clinical Organizations". A two day workshop presented in New York, Oslo, Copenhagen, and Toronto.
Numerous workshops on brief therapy, family therapy, child abuse, foster care, and solution focused approaches in schools presented in Western Massachusetts & Connecticut.
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