Two roles, one mission: A dual educator model for behavioral health training in family medicine residency.

OBJECTIVE: This article introduces the dual educator model, a conceptual framework describing how behavioral health faculty and full-time clinical behavioral health consultants (BHCs) contribute complementarily to residency-based behavioral health education within integrated primary care. METHOD: This conceptual analysis draws on the structure and processes of a university-affiliated family medicine residency program employing both behavioral health faculty and full-time clinical BHCs. Descriptive warm handoff activity data and resident rotation evaluations are used illustratively to demonstrate how formal curriculum and embedded clinical modeling interact within a layered educational environment, without inferential aims. RESULTS: The dual educator model identifies two interdependent components of behavioral health education: (a) a formal curriculum led by faculty through didactics, structured observation, and competency assessment; and (b) an embedded curriculum enacted by clinical BHCs through real-time modeling, warm handoffs, team-based care, and case debriefing. Descriptive patterns illustrate how exposure to both educational layers supports resident engagement with integrated behavioral health. CONCLUSIONS: The dual educator model offers a structured lens for understanding how distinct behavioral health roles function additively rather than interchangeably. Programs seeking to strengthen integrated primary care training may benefit from structuring behavioral health education to include both curricular architecture and embedded clinical modeling. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).