ABSTRACT
This chapter provides some background on the demand for Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Primary Care Psychology Training model, highlights its essential competencies and unique advantages, describes some interprofessional training activities, and provides evidence for favorable trainee outcomes. VCU is ideally located for training in providing integrated care to underserved and disadvantaged communities. The chapter also describes five specific underserved groups that the clinics serve: the homeless, Latino families, children and adolescents, the LGBT community, and uninsured individuals with multiple chronic medical conditions. One unique advantage of primary care training is how well it lends itself to a vertical team model of training, similar to the one used in medicine and other healthcare disciplines. Training in a primary care safety net clinic requires an additional set of considerations and skills beyond other primary care settings, even beyond more traditional clinics that predominantly serve vulnerable and underserved racial/ethnic minority groups as well as low socioeconomic status populations.
