Role of Behavioral Health Clinicians in the NICU Setting

Abstract

This chapter addresses the multifaceted role of the behavioral health clinician (BHC) in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) setting. It is guided by trauma-informed and culturally informed practices that target the family system and medical system surrounding the infant patient. It discusses the need for perinatal mental health screening and psychosocial assessment in the NICU, and it offers recommendations for the integration of these assessments into standard workflow. The BHC is essential to the provision of interventions that support parental, infant, and staff mental health and well-being in the NICU. Primary targets for BHC intervention and impact may include, but are not limited to, helping parents and staff understand the reality of the traumas faced in the NICU, offering individualized coping resources and group-based support, laying the groundwork for continued processing of the NICU experience, enhancing patient–provider communication, and acting as a liaison for internal and external support resources.