Graduate Psychology Education Programs - The Integrated C.A.R.E. (Community-based, Accessible, Recovery-oriented, Education) Project is designed to increase the number of doctoral health service psychology students trained to work in integrated, interdisciplinary behavioral health in community based primary care settings (IIPC) in high need and high demand areas of Kentucky. Our current application is a request for competing continuation given original funding from HRSA GPE 22-043. Thanks to this funding from 2022-current, we have been successful in meeting this aim. We have successfully trained our goal 21 doctoral students in integrated primary care settings, with a focus on substance use disorders and medication for opiate use disorders specifically. The aim of the renewal is to continue our success for another three years. Students and Faculty will continue to receive training in IIPC, with a focus on trauma informed substance use/opiate use disorder (SUD/OUD) treatments, as well as telehealth, with underserved populations in Kentucky. Funding to support these efforts will significantly enhance the workforce of diverse and culturally responsive graduates and faculty. A total of 15 students will be trained over the three-year project if renewed. We especially seek to increase the diversity of the workforce by specifically recruiting diverse participants. Each student will work approximately 15 hours per week for 42 weeks (August-July each year), utilizing partnerships newly developed in our current program. Students will receive over 23 hours of specialized didactic focus in OUD/SUD and a six-month certification in Telehealth and primary care. A total of six faculty (outside of project staff; approximately half the faculty in the School of Professional Psychology (SOPP)) will engage in training related to IIPC and SUD/OUD best practices. The program will utilize a Rapid Cycle Quality Improvement paradigm (RCQI) to ensure the program is meeting goals and to enable systemic changes and shifts when barriers are encountered. The Integrated C.A.R.E. project addresses each of the three HRSA priorities, including: 1) ending the crisis of opioid addiction and overdoes in America by training behavioral health providers in substance use disorder treatment; 2) improving access to mental health care through an increased workforce able to address behavioral health needs of underserved communities; and 3) strengthening health care access through telehealth services offered by Spalding University and our two partner organizations. The experiential training sites are a combination of established and new partnership organizations located around the Commonwealth of Kentucky, including IIPC sites in underserved and rural areas in and around Nelson County and Bullitt County. Students will be recruited from the SOPP. They will be selected to participate on a voluntary basis, receiving training and supervision in screening, consultation, and trauma informed recovery/treatment services for psychological, social, chronic health, and substance abuse issues, in collaboration with partners in the health disciplines of physicians, nurse practitioners, and social workers primarily. The School of Professional Psychology is requesting funding preference based on high rate (>50%) of program graduates working with MUC/P’s and/or in profession shortage areas (74%). We are also requesting funding priority, given the significant number of doctoral students who have been trained in integrated primary care through practicum placement and the securing of two cycles of a BHWET grant (HRSA-17-70, HRSA-21-89) and one cycle of HRSA GPE 22-043.
