Conceptual article advocates for integrated health clinics to improve mental health access for LGBTQ+ individuals, suggesting relevant frameworks and initial data.
INTRODUCTION: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) adults report notable mental health disparities, yet are highly underserved in mental health care. Integrated behavioral health (IBH) may address disparities, yet guidance on establishing such clinics for LGBTQ+ populations is limited. METHOD: This conceptual article discusses the need for establishing IBH clinics and provides a case example of a clinic, including initial utilization data. RESULTS: We highlight relevant theoretical frameworks that can be used to establish IBH clinics serving LGBTQ+ individuals and demonstrate application of these frameworks in our case example. Our IBH clinic data showed that 266 visits were completed in 2025 for LGBTQ+ adults, with 32 patients opting into short-term psychotherapy. DISCUSSION: IBH clinics are essential for expanding mental health care access for LGBTQ+ individuals. Further research should focus on evaluating these models and identifying cost-effective interventions that can be used in integrated settings. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
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Sheynblyum et al. (2026) studied this question.
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