Behavioral Health Technicians (BHTs) play a key role within DoD behavioral healthcare settings. BHTs serve as “provider extenders”, meaning that they are trained to conduct several clinical tasks under supervision of a licensed provider. Examples of these clinical tasks include; administering and tracking outcome measures, assisting with documentation of care, conducting screening/triage appointments, assisting with EBP group and individual therapy delivery.
While BHTs are trained and able to support providers, however, there are often barriers to utilizing their clinical skills on a routine basis. We should note that without the support of BHTs, many of the tasks in the other modules in the Clinic Optimization toolkit may be more difficult.
If clinics can overcome the barriers to utilizing BHT’s clinical skills, they will reap many benefits. Some benefits are listed in the callout box on the right.
The Utilizing Behavioral Health Technicians training deck gives an overview of models for using BHT clinical skills, as well as best practices for having BHTs serve as provider extenders. The deck is an excellent starting point and reference for clinic leaders seeking to better leverage BHTs within a clinic.
The Toolkit also contains an “EBP Competency Checklist for BHTs” which your clinic can use for assessing BHT’s core competencies regarding EBPs. Using this tool will allow clinic leaders and or supervisors to rate individual BHTs on the set of skills that are relevant to this part of their clinical roles. This is important because some BHTs will have more practice using these skills compared to their peers, as some may have served in clinical support roles during deployments or at other duty stations.
A Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) provides guidance that can facilitate consistency and quality of work, as well as help ensure that a change in policy is sustained over time. The toolkit provides a template for a SOP/OI to Establish the Role of BHTs in Support of EBPs. Clinic leaders are invited to review the document and adapt it to fit their own clinic’s model for using BHTs to support EBPs in the clinic.
A key area that BHTs can support Clinic Optimization efforts is with supporting group therapy. BHTs can co-facilitate EBP groups and even run psychoeducational groups under supervision. For more information on this aspect of BHT roles, including tools to make this easier to implement, look at the Expanding Group Therapy page .
Relevant toolkit items:
| Item Name | Description | Audience |
|---|---|---|
| Utilizing Behavioral Health Technicians (Training Deck) Slides (PDF) Slides (PDF with notes) |
Training presentation on the benefits and logistics of utilizing behavioral health technicians in a military behavioral health clinic to assist with individual and group EBP treatment, group screenings, tracking outcome measures, and assisting with documentation. | Clinic Managers |
| SOP/OI to Establish BHT Role in Support of EBPs | Customizable SOP/OI establishing clinic policy regarding the use of behavioral health technicians to make the most effective use of their specialized training in support of our mission to provide the best care possible to patients using EBPs. | Clinic Managers |
| EBP Competency Checklist for BHTs | Customizable assessment form for providers/clinic managers to assess the competency of behavioral health technicians to assist with the provision of individual and group EBPs and to run psychoeducational groups. | Clinic Managers / providers |
To return to the Clinic Optimization Toolkit, click here.