How to Embed Mental Health into Primary Care

A practicing internist, Dr. Thad Schilling first joined Reliant Medical Group in 2014. Dr. Schilling now serves as the Chief Medical Officer for Reliant Medical Group. His initial leadership work was in Primary Care, with an emphasis on pioneering the transition to team-based care for patients at Reliant. This new model for primary care delivery focuses on patient-centeredness, interdisciplinary teamwork, and achieving key quality and efficiency initiatives. He is currently focused on clinical transformation in Reliant’s specialty practices.

Dr. Schilling earned his medical degree from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio and performed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Brigham’s and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

For Dr. Norberg it was the events of September 11th, 2001 that led him to ultimately decide to become a psychologist. “On that day I was at work in the World Trade Center,” he explains. “9/11 more or less changed my life. I decided to leave my job in the financial industry and pursue something that would give me more meaning and purpose in my life.”

Dr. Nordberg eventually decided to go back to school, first at Columbia University and later at Penn State where he received his doctorate in psychology. Now as Chief of Behavioral Health at Reliant Medical Group he believes strongly that everyone deserves quality care for mental health problems when they need it. “We know that in any given year, one out of four Americans will develop a mental health problem. In fact, for Americans between the ages of 18 and 55, mental health issues cause more lost work, family and pleasure time than any other medical issue. That’s why at Reliant we’ve developed a system where our behavioral health caregivers practice right inside our primary care offices to make it convenient for patients and work closely with our medical providers.”

In his practice Dr. Nordberg has a special interest in treating trauma-related disorders, in particular post-traumatic stress disorder and borderline personality disorder. He also has a lot of experience helping patients with anxiety disorders. Dr. Nordberg enjoys being pro-active with his patients and getting them on the road to recovery. “I enjoy working collaboratively with my patients and I like to set a fast pace for treatment because this has been shown to be more effective. I find it very gratifying to see people progress and make positive changes in their lives.”

Dr. Nordberg believes that more and more Americans are willing to seek help for their mental health issues. “I think as a society we are more aware of mental health problems now. And I think people are more comfortable talking about their mental health issues, although there is still a stigma about it. There’s no doubt that more people could benefit from our help if they decided to seek treatment.”

When he is not busy helping patients, Dr. Nordberg enjoys outdoor sports, especially fly-fishing for trout. He has fished everywhere from New Hampshire to New Zealand as well as our Western states.