Graduate Psychology Education Programs - The United States and the State of Missouri continue to face crises in the areas of mental health and substance use disorders. Rates of mental health disorders and serious mental illness are higher in Missouri than national averages. In addition, rates of trauma and substance use disorders are also higher in Missouri than in the nation. However, Missourians experience limited access to mental health treatment. The University of Missouri Departments of Health Psychology and Family and Community Medicine will collaborate with the Missouri Health Sciences Psychology Internship Consortium and the Missouri Prevention Science Institute to implement an interdisciplinary Graduate Psychology Education Program (GPE) for predoctoral psychology interns focused on interdisciplinary assessment and treatment, trauma-informed care, and substance use disorder/opioid use disorder prevention and treatment services in order to meet mental health needs across the life-span in Missouri. The Missouri Interdisciplinary Behavioral Health Psychology Internship GPE Program has the following goal and objectives: Goal: Increase the number of predoctoral psychology interns that are well-trained, culturally competent, and prepared to work in community-based and primary care settings. • Objective 1: Prepare more psychology interns to provide services in high need and high demand areas. The number of interns from underrepresented backgrounds will increase. • Objective 2: Provide trainees with didactic and intensive experiential training, focused on interdisciplinary assessment and treatment, trauma-informed care, and substance use disorder (SUD)/opioid use disorder (OUD) prevention and treatment services, in primary care and community-based settings and utilizing telebehavioral health treatments. • Objective 3: Continue to expand academic and clinical partnerships for psychology intern training in interdisciplinary and community based primary care settings. • Objective 4: Provide ongoing faculty development and staff training, focused on interdisciplinary treatment, telebehavioral health care, and SUD/OUD prevention and treatment. This project will build on our department’s previous HRSA funded programs by recruiting and training 6 psychology interns per year over 3 years (18 total interns) in the American Psychological Association accredited Missouri Health Sciences Psychology Internship Consortium program, as well as provide training to practicing and supervising psychologists affiliated with the consortium and multidisciplinary departments. Psychology interns will receive experiential clinical training in community based and primary care settings in high need and underserved areas, as well as utilize tele-behavioral health treatments through completion of various major rotations (60% effort) and minor rotations (30% effort) during the internship training year. Interns will have opportunities to provide comprehensive behavioral health screenings and assessments and individual and group treatments to patients across the lifespan and in various settings (e.g., outpatient clinics, schools, residential settings, etc.). They will also gain experience collaborating with trainees and faculty from multiple disciplines (e.g., family medicine, social work, school psychology, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy, etc.) in clinical settings and through didactic experiences. Trainees and faculty will receive comprehensive didactic and other educational training (10% effort) in interdisciplinary treatment, telebehavioral health, and SUD/OUD prevention and treatment best practices. All of the proposed training rotations will occur in interdisciplinary team settings and include access to psychology, social work, counseling, medication assisted treatment, social services, nursing, and other health related disciplines
