Meet Baylor’s expert on integrating social work and primary health care

We all get the need for good medical health care. More and more people are becoming aware of the need for good behavioral health care, as well — treating mental health, substance abuse, and other stressors that often affect physical health.

Behavioral health care, however, can be hard to find — especially here in Texas, where more than two-thirds of counties qualify as behavioral health shortage areas. In Baylor’s Garland School of Social Work, Dr. Becky Scott (PhD ’19) is working to change that — to improve access to high-quality mental and behavioral healthcare for Texans.

Integrated behavioral health — offering clinical social work assistance as a part of primary medical care — is a central focus of Scott’s study and research. Since joining Baylor’s social work program in 2008, Scott has brought in more than $2.3 million in federal and private foundation grants. That support has allowed her to to establish two new programs at Baylor that train social work students to be able to use their expertise in primary care settings.

Scott has always been interested in mental and behavioral health accessibility. Before coming to Baylor, she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work from Abilene Christian and the University of Washington, respectively; at Baylor, she added a Ph.D. in social work.

Beyond her work on campus, Scott has also worked with Waco Family Medicine (WFM) to integrate behavioral health care into doctor visits in its 16 McLennan County clinics, winning them an award from the Texas Academy of Family Physicians. In partnership with WFM, she also built a children’s behavioral health program called the Integrated Child-Adult Relationship Enhancement interaction model, which focuses on involving parents in care and therapy for children with destructive behavior disorder.

Sic ’em, Dr. Scott!