Who doesn’t like Unicorns? Join Sarah and Morgan as they talk about primary care unicorns- or unique roles that are being tested in primary care- and the potential for extending the boundaries of how we think about primary care teams. In this episode we highlight the stories of BC’s one (and only) kinesiologist currently working in a primary care team as well as learning about the potential of adding genetic counselling to primary care teams to support patients with mental health concerns in primary care.


Thank you to our Guests!

Carmela de Gracia Patten: Carmela is the first kinesiologist in the province hired to work in Primary Care. Based in northern BC, Carmela is a team member with the Change Program, a lifestyle intervention program focused on metabolic syndrome (people with type 2 or pre-diabetes)Jehaninne Austen: Jehaninne is a neuropsychiatric geneticist and a genetic counselor. They are a professor at the University of British Columbia.Prescilla Carrion: Prescilla is a senior research genetic counsellor and clinical associate professor in the UBC Department of Psychiatry and was the genetic counsellor for the Cool Aid Community Health Centre team as part of the GenCOUNSEL research project.

Resources

If you would like to learn more about CHANGE BC and the engagement of kinesiologists in Primary Care in BC check out the Team UP webinar: CHANGE BC and Team Based Care: a rural experience and visit the Change BC website.To read more about the impact of embedding psychiatric genetic counselling in primary care visit: https://blog.invitae.com/real-stories-prescilla-c-2b8475b29e8f.To see the impact of psychiatric genetic counselling on a client, Prescilla recommends watching this video: https://youtu.be/gKX1MAggeX0?t=3321And coming soon: Carrion PB, Austin J, Elliott AM. A genetic counselor's reflections on lessons learned, challenges, and successes experienced during a one-year pilot integration in a primary care clinic. Public Health Genomics. 2023 Jun 12:1. doi: 10.1159/000530683. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37307802.Slomp C, Morris E, GenCOUNSEL Study, Price M, Elliott, AM, and Austin JA. The stepwise process of integrating a genetic counselor into primary care. Eur J Hum Genet. 2022; DOI: 10.1038/s41431-022-01063-4.