Graduate Psychology Education Programs - West Chester University (WCU)’s APA-accredited Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) program in Clinical Psychology prepares future psychologists for interdisciplinary, trauma-informed practice. Building on its currently successful HRSA GPE project (D40HP45694), WCU seeks HRSA GPE Competing Continuation funding for Training Resources Advancing Interdisciplinary Networks to care for Underserved Populations (Trained Up Project) to further strengthen experiential training partnerships, optimize the curriculum, and expand interprofessional training with a focus on substance use disorders (SUDs) and opioid use disorders (OUDs). Trained Up Project objectives are to: (1) recruit and train 21 Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) in Clinical Psychology trainees for practice in community-based primary care settings in Southeast Pennsylvania; (2) award training stipends of $32,500 and tuition waivers for 9 credits of SUD-focused coursework to each full-time GPE trainee; (3) establish an SUD Concentration within the PsyD program to extend SUD/OUD training for future PsyD students; (4) provide all PsyD students (approximately 78 students) with integrated, interdisciplinary, team-based didactic and experiential training in SUD/OUD prevention and treatment services, trauma-informed care, tele-behavioral health, and behavioral health disorders in children, adolescents, and youth, including through new interdisciplinary simulation-based training with WCU’s HRSA BHWET-supported nursing and social work training programs, to provide integrated, team-based behavioral health care; (5) support GPE trainees to complete at least 16 hours per week of training in a community-based, integrated, interdisciplinary setting located in high-need and high- demand areas; (6) develop and enhance academic and clinical partnerships with at least eight experiential sites, to give PsyD students exposure to serving high-need, high-demand areas and settings; (7) support GPE trainees to complete at least 25% of training focused on SUD/OUD intervention and treatment; and (8) provide ongoing faculty development and staff training for at least 24 doctoral-level psychologists including 21 field supervisors and 6 permanent faculty in their professional practice in culturally responsive care, psychopharmacology, and emergent topics in psychology. The Trained Up Project will feature a new 3-course SUD/OUD concentration and provide GPE trainees with tuitions waivers to complete the elective course sequence. In addition, all PsyD students, faculty, and site partners, as well as students and faculty in WCU’s nursing and social work programs, will benefit from a new SUD Continuing Education series, which will provide professional development in emerging topics in SUD prevention, treatment, and intervention, including addressing medications for opioid-use disorder (MOUD). Funding Priority: WCU seeks consideration for the HRSA GPE program funding priority, based on its demonstrated ability to train psychology professionals to work in integrated care settings.
