Shared Care Collaboration Between Community Mental Health Workers or Counsellors and Psychiatrists in a Shared Care Setting

Of the authors, one community mental health worker presently works in two urban centres: a teaching practice with five different family physicians and an urban fee-for-service practice with three family physicians. The other community mental health worker works in a rural setting with three family physicians and collaborates with a psychiatrist in two other rural general practitioner prac-tices. The psychiatrist works in several rural and urban practices and has worked closely with both community mental health workers. We bring our individual experiences and skills with us. Working as a team requires us to take the time to get to know each other well and to become aware of what we do well and where our limitations lie. Early communication about roles, tasks and skills is important when developin