Understanding the Doctor of Behavioral Health (DBH): What You'll Learn, Comparison to a PHD or PsyD, Career Options

A Doctor of Behavioral Health (DBH) is a practice-oriented doctorate in integrated health care, built for master’s-level professionals who want to bring behavioral health into primary care, hospitals and community health systems. The degree develops skills in program design, leadership and applied research for people who plan to lead services.

For clinicians and healthcare leaders who wish to contribute to a health care organization, the DBH offers a pathway to advanced leadership in the drive toward integrated care.

The DBH is a practice degree with distinct specializations. Search for a behavioral health doctorate online, and you’re likely to get lots of results about PhD and PsyD programs. This article explains what Herzing University’s online DBH is, what it covers, why it’s different from other doctoral programs and what it prepares you to do.

What Is a Doctor of Behavioral Health (DBH)?

The DBH is an applied doctorate, also called a practice doctorate. Like a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) or a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA), it teaches you how to use your advanced knowledge to solve practical problems in the field. Coursework covers how behavioral health services are funded, regulated, staffed, measured and improved, and how to transform systems from within an organization.

The organizing concept is integrated health care. In an integrated model, behavioral health screening, treatment and follow-up are embedded in primary care and medical settings, so a patient’s mental health and physical health are addressed by the same team rather than in separate systems that rarely talk to each other.

Building and leading that kind of program takes someone who understands clinical practice, healthcare policy, medical terminology, data and organizational leadership at once. Developing that combination is what a DBH is designed to do.

What you can learn in our DBH program

Herzing’s DBH aims to produce graduates who are ethical leaders grounded in evidence-based, equity-focused practice. They are able to design initiatives and lead teams to integrate behavioral health, mental health and wellbeing into healthcare and community systems. Graduates are able to apply data analytics and AI-enabled tools to program evaluation and monitoring.

Selected course topics include:

• Foundations of Integrated Behavioral Health
• Policy and Value-Based Care in Behavioral Health
• Legal, Ethical, and Professional Issues in Integrated Healthcare
• Integrated Behavioral Health and Primary Care
• Medical Literacy and Clinical Communication
• Research Design and Applied Methods in Behavioral Health
• Health Equity and Stigma Reduction in Behavioral Healthcare
• Artificial Intelligence and Technology in Healthcare Innovation

Essentially, a DBH provides the legal and ethical framework, clinical language, and research methods (including data analysis and AI-powered tools) needed to create programs that reshape service delivery.

Two specializations: Clinical and Management

Herzing’s DBH has two specializations. Your master’s degree determines which one you’re eligible for.

Clinical: This specialization is for practitioners who hold a master’s or doctoral degree in a behavioral health related field such as social work, counseling, psychology, nursing, speech therapy, occupational therapy or physical therapy.

Alongside the core curriculum, it adds coursework in clinical pathophysiology, evidence-based interventions for complex conditions, psychopharmacology in integrated care and the neurophysiology of addictive behaviors.

Management: This specialization is open to applicants who hold a master’s degree in any field from an accredited university. It emphasizes quality improvement, data analytics, financial decision-making and organizational transformation, which fits administrators and operations leaders responsible for behavioral health services without providing direct care.

DBH vs. PhD vs. PsyD: What’s the difference?

All three are doctorates, and all three require advanced level work. Here’s a high-level comparison and differentiation of each degree:

The DBH: an applied doctorate for practice and leadership

The DBH focuses on practical skills for leading and improving systems of care. Because the DBH is a post-master’s degree for people already credentialed in their own fields, it doesn’t lead to a new clinical license. Instead, graduates can pursue leadership, program design, quality improvement and faculty work. Licensed clinicians who earn a DBH can continue practicing under the license they hold.

Because of its applied nature, the DBH doesn’t require a traditional dissertation, practicum or internship. At Herzing, you’ll complete a doctoral capstone project. This involves identifying a real behavioral health challenge, conducting a literature review, collecting and analyzing data. It finishes with a scholarly presentation and final report of the project.

The PhD: a research doctorate

A PhD prepares you to produce original research. Programs emphasize research methods and theory and culminate in a dissertation. Students in clinical and counseling programs are typically required to complete an internship as well. Timelines run long: most clinical PhD programs last four years plus an additional internship year.

As far as careers go, the PhD is the right choice if you want to generate research, compete for research funding or teach at a research university. Graduates of clinical and counseling PhD programs often pursue licensure as psychologists.

The PsyD: a clinical practice doctorate

A PsyD focuses on applying psychological principles in direct work with clients and patients. The goal is to become a licensed psychologist. Programs generally require a dissertation or doctoral project along with a full-time predoctoral internship. Timelines vary by school, but typically students will complete four years of coursework, a dissertation, and a one-year, full-time predoctoral internship of at least 1,500 clinical hours.

Who Is Herzing’s DBH for, and What Careers Can Graduates Pursue?

Herzing’s DBH is built for working professionals who already hold a master’s degree, including social workers, master’s-qualified nurses, counselors and psychologists.

Admission requires a minimum 3.0 GPA, official transcripts, a personal statement describing your interest in the degree and a review of your résumé and professional work experience. A clinical license isn’t required to apply, but the Clinical specialization calls for a master’s or doctoral degree in a behavioral health-related field. The Management specialization accepts a master’s in any field.

The program prepares graduates for advanced leadership. Here are a few examples of job titles DBH graduates could potentially pursue.

Director of Behavioral Health

A director of behavioral health is responsible for leading a specific program. They’ll oversee budgets, staffing models, quality metrics, regulatory compliance and ensuring that behavioral health coordinates effectively with other departments and organizations. The work involves translating clinical priorities into operational plans and supporting those plans with data, which is what the leadership, policy and program evaluation coursework prepares you to do.

Clinical Director

Clinical directors supervise clinical staff and set the standard of care for a program or agency. The role blends clinical judgment with oversight: reviewing outcomes, developing protocols, supporting supervision and training and keeping practice aligned with legal and ethical requirements. The Clinical specialization is designed with this kind of role in mind.

Integrated Care Manager

Integrated care managers coordinate behavioral health inside primary care or hospital teams. Day to day, that means screening workflows, handoffs between medical and behavioral health staff, follow-up with patients who fall out of contact, shared documentation and measurement of results. The role depends on medical literacy and clinical communication, both of which are core courses in the program.

Post-Secondary Faculty

DBH graduates may also be able pursue faculty positions in behavioral health, social work, counseling or healthcare administration programs at some colleges and universities.

What Can I Expect from Herzing’s DBH?

Herzing’s Doctor of Behavioral Health is a 54-credit program delivered 100% online. Full-time students can complete it in about 18 months, while part-time students can generally finish in as few as 36 months. Tuition is $770 per credit.

There are three features of our DBH that matter most for working professionals. First, the program culminates in an applied capstone rather than a dissertation. There’s also no practicum or internship requirement, so you won’t need to arrange clinical placements around your current job. Finally, coursework is delivered online and largely asynchronously (with some required scheduled participation) so most of your studying happens on your own time.

The program is available to students in all 50 states, Washington D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

If a doctor of behavioral health degree is your calling, Herzing University is ready to support you on your journey.