CHCW helped me learn how to be a high performing BHC in an integrated setting. It allowed me to work with various populations, ages, and areas of need, it helped me network and find professional outlets to fulfill my areas of passion (CFHA, STFM, etc.) and it has helped me learn how to take action on my goals and make things happen.

I haven’t left yet and that is because of the amazing people I work with and have worked with over the years and the truly integrated nature of our program.

Dive in, be present, say “yes,” get to know your co-workers from all departments because we have some amazing people in our clinics and explore the community there is a lot to offer that you may not see on your first glance.

As I gratefully reflect on the various twists and turns that my professional journey has taken, on roads both less and more traveled, I am hard pressed to identify a more formative and impactful experience than my time at CHCW.

Beyond the training, experience, and instilled passion for PCBH, I took from CHCW a much broader curiosity for larger concepts such as the very nature of health and wellness, leadership, innovation, and creativity.

Even in professional settings and contexts that were different from the applied practice of PCBH, I found myself drawing upon these meta skills that I learned at CHCW to succeed in a personally meaningful and gratifying way.

The best feature that I could hope for in any internship is a universally shared value across the organization for training and education.

The people who I spent the vast majority of my waking life with during this time are still some of my greatest inspirations.

In the course of training and professional career, one may be lucky enough to encounter people who facilitate growth, and those who are a genuine joy to be around. At CHCW, I was abundantly lucky to have both.

Celebrate the moment. Everything is a learning opportunity, a laboratory experiment. While there are certainly lessons more easily digested than others, stay open and curious to what each experience can provide.

Growth begins at the edge of our comfort zone.

CHCW built my entire foundational knowledge of PCBH. When you know both the “whys” & the “hows” of a model, you not only practice better as an individual but are better equipped to become a leader.

Context is key! This is not only true for our patients, but also for our providers, our leadership, & our staff. Recognizing this is imperative for making any changes, whether at individual or organizational levels.

It is difficult to distill into a few sentences how influential my internship year was in preparing me for not only my current role but also in overall professional development.  

Connection! You spend more time with the people you work with than almost any other people in your life. The people at CHCW value connection, value supporting one another in the hard work of providing care to complex humans, and value having fun at work.

Additionally, I personally enjoyed working alongside medical residents, learning from them, and also teaching them.

Stay engaged, don’t hesitate to “rumble” respectfully if you don’t agree or have a differing perspective on something, and take care of yourself.

The work we do involves a lot of giving… giving patience, kindness, respect, attention, time, energy, etc. It is equally as important to take your free time to fill your cup whatever that may look like.

Lastly, remember that you don’t have to know everything, just don’t be afraid to acknowledge those gaps & be willing to learn.

CHCW provided structural support from within the PCBH department, as well as from the organization as a whole. They helped immensely in providing me with the foundational knowledge about how to do PCBH, work within a primary care facility, and how to talk to physicians and other medical professionals all while becoming one of “them”.

Most importantly, they let me be myself, learning what kind of clinician I wanted to be. They challenged me in ways that I needed challenging while also never making me feel alone in the process of being challenged.

The people – coworkers & patients alike. Yakima, Ellensburg, Naches, Highland and each patient we touch within this community is the part I will always enjoy the most about this organization.

The people I have the privilege of working beside & learning from never cease to put a smile on my face, even on the hardest of days.

One of the first things they’ll tell you is “learn it, then do it well, then do it efficiently” – BELIEVE THIS, they want you to learn how to do this work! The organization as a whole is incredibly supportive of and passionate about this program; they want you to learn it as much and best as possible, even if it takes a while (the learning curve can be steep!).

As corny & cliche as it sounds, trust the process. It won’t always be fun, it won’t always be easy, AND it probably wouldn’t be worth it if it was always fun & easy

CHCW helped deepen my understanding of what role BH can play in medical care, and how I can better reach and support my community.

The team, and the ample opportunity to try new and exciting things collaboratively.

Let yourself do the uncomfortable thing and sit in the discomfort, that’s where growth lives. Just trying things out is an exciting part of this experience!

CHCW gave me a wide range of experiences in PCBH that allowed me to start the PCBH service at my pediatric clinic, as well as handle any situation I could imagine occurring from high-risk cases to exceptionally difficult traumatic experiences because I had already experienced something similar at CHCW.

The supervision at CHCW also was of such high quality compared to other sites I had been at that I still use it as a reference for providing my own supervision to trainees.

Lastly, the experience of growing with the medical residents gave me a lot of insight into the medical training model which has been helpful in my own work with medical residents at Providence Swedish. 

I enjoyed how highly integrated and ESSENTIAL the PCBH team was for the medical organization as a whole. It gave me a template in my mind that I continue to refer back to in terms of how I am promoting the use of PCBH as an essential service, not just a “nice to have.” 

As cliche as it is, lean into the experience as much as possible. I cannot think of a better experience I could have had for learning PCBH, but that was because I jumped at the opportunity to get every WHO, took on harder cases to learn, as well as fell flat on my face more times than I could count.

The beauty of CHCW’s training program is you can get as much as you want out of it and you have the opportunity to talk to supervisors who have a variety of positions (e.g., Dr. Beachy as the director gave a fantastic glimpse into the administrative side of PCBH/medical organizations).

Ask all the questions, be courageous in talking about your areas of growth, and use this experience to steal as many tips, tricks, and habits as you can to build up your own professional practice, not only clinical but also administrative and professional development.