18 Across the Divide: Building Bridges between Primary Care and Community Mental Health Providers with Dr. Zakia Alavi

https://302.buzz/PM-WhatAreYourThoughts

In this episode, I invite Dr. Zakia Alavi, a child and adolescent psychiatrist and an assistant professor at Michigan State University who teaches medical students about the integration between basic and clinical sciences to the podcast. She has been providing psychiatric services to underprivileged children in Jackson, Michigan, and has published many peer-reviewed articles on psychopharmacology and polypharmacy.

Let’s listen to Dr. Alavi and learn more about building bridges between primary care and community mental health providers!

[00:01 - 06:02] Opening Segment

• Welcoming today's guest, Dr. Zakia Alavi
• Her path to child and adolescent psychiatry
• Touching one generation with one child

[06:03 - 16:12] Convincing Families

• A supportive community mental health system
• How to convince “professional” families to treat mental health
• Building a two-way communication with children

[16:13 - 25:35] Building Networks and Relationships

• Primary care providers shouldn’t go beyond their comfort level
• Find out why
• How can physicians make a change within their systems?
• The importance of network- and relationship-building

[25:36 - 32:09] Creating a Safe Space for Children

• Trust and comfort among children as priorities
• Mental health stigma during and after the COVID-19 pandemic

[32:10 - 41:53] Closing Segment

• Dr. Alavi’s parting words
• Trust the patients more
• Final Takeaways
• Connect with child psychiatrist
• The importance of humility among child psychiatrists
• Supportive systems in the community mental health world
• Building relationships and work on a team
• Trust the system and the patient more
• Sometimes, it’s better to not do anything

Tweetable Quotes:

“If I can touch one life, one child, that’s like a whole generation. You can affect so many people by just touching one child’s life” - Dr. Zakia Alavi

“Remember that you work in a community. You’re not in a silo.” - Dr. Zakia Alavi

Resources Mentioned:

• Michigan Child Care Collaborative
• Ep. 13: Psychiatric Consultation: The Doctor is In!
• National Network of Child Psychiatry Access Programs
• Understanding the Use of Psychotropic Medications in the Child Welfare System: Causes, Consequences, and Proposed Solutions
• When stimulants “fail” for children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

If you’d like to connect with Dr. Alavi, email alavizak@msu.edu. Also, visit https://raind.msu.edu/ to learn more about his space.

If you’d like to connect with me, you can find me at LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter or email me at gagginol@yahoo.com. To learn...