How Tara is bringing behavioral health into the heart of primary care

May 11, 2026 | 3-minute read

For Tara Langsdorf, the healthcare system works best when no part of a patient's life is treated in isolation.

That belief became deeply personal during the COVID‑19 pandemic, when the loss of a close friend, and her own journey to reclaim her health, made clear how often fragmented care fails people at the moments they need it most.

That experience shapes her work as director of provider solutions for Optum Whole Health Solutions, where she leads efforts to embed behavioral health services directly into primary care settings across the country. It also drives how she shows up for the clinicians, patients and communities she serves every day. In every setting, the goal is the same: ensure people get the right care, in the right place, at the right time.

"My team at Optum works together to help create medical and behavioral integration where we're able to help solve the mental health needs of patients," Tara says.

Breaking down barriers between mind and body

Tara knows what it means to navigate the space where physical and mental health intersect. Rather than building her career around an individual practice, she chose to pursue something larger. By leading efforts to integrate behavioral health directly into primary care, she could help ensure that more patients receive the kind of compassionate, coordinated support that should never be out of reach.

Her team's model puts that commitment into practice. Behavioral health clinicians are embedded inside primary care clinics, working side by side with medical providers every day. Patients can be seen during the same visit or within five days, far sooner than most community-based options allow.

A short-term program of four to six months helps patients make meaningful progress, and those who need additional support are connected to the right resources.

"The providers who have experienced the program are feeling a sense of hope that they can focus on what they went to school for," Tara says, "while somebody else helps handle the behavioral health needs of their patients."

Scaling a model that works

Tara and her team launched their first collaborative care model in Manchester, Connecticut. The results were compelling enough that the program expanded to Middletown, with another clinic in Bristol going live this spring. Patients graduate the program with their symptoms cut in half in a short amount of time, and clinically significant improvements in anxiety and depression can emerge within just one month.

A coordinated approach to care supports earlier interventions and greater access, improves patient outcomes and experiences, and lowers the total cost of care.

“This model helps prevent crises because we’re able to get to the root of the issue right there when they’re talking to their doctor,” Tara says.

That kind of impact travels fast. Providers who once struggled to address their patients' mental health needs alongside medical ones now describe a sense of relief, knowing that support is right down the hall.

A vision for whole-person care

Tara sees the work her team is doing today as the foundation for something much larger. She envisions a future where every primary care clinic has behavioral health support built in and where patients are treated not just for a diagnosis but for the full complexity of their lives.

Through her work, Tara is helping build a model where connection is not the exception. It is the standard — one clinic, one patient and one community at a time.