Graduate Psychology Education Programs - The APA-accredited “Rochester Priority Behavioral Health Internship Training Program” in Rochester New York proposes to continue its HRSA funded GPE training grant to increase the number of doctoral psychology interns trained to provide integrated, interdisciplinary team based care, culturally responsive health services, trauma informed care, self-care models for providers, screening and interventions to address social determinants of health (SDOH), provider resiliency programming among Opioid Use Disorders (OUDs), Substance Use Disorders (SUDs) and other behavioral health related problems in high need, high demand regions and underserved communities in Monroe County, located in upstate New York. Monroe County is a rural area facing considerable behavioral health and chemical dependency workforce challenges. The internship training program is one of the main key resources in this region both for providing integration of care models, addiction and behavioral healthcare to underserved citizens (children, adolescents, transitional age youth and adults) as well as providing high quality interdisciplinary training. It is also one of the only training clinics to provide ‘free consultative services’ to the Monroe County residents and surrounding counties. If funded, the proposed project will continue to improve the doctoral psychology internship program’s capacity to train psychology interns in the integration of care, behavioral health and substance use prevention and treatment. Specifically, funding will be used to train 18 additional interns during the grant period. Grant funding will allow for enhancement of the current interdisciplinary training in Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) and other Substance Use Disorder (SUD), as well as the increased provision of training in integration of care, social determinants of health, provider resiliency and the use of evidence based digital therapies/digital tools as well as tele-behavioral health. The specific, measurable objectives associated with the proposed project are as follows: 1) Between July 2025 and July 2028, add a total of 18 intern training positions with a focus on integration of care, trauma centered care, SDOH, provider resiliency will occur and enhance OUD/SUD and mental health services for high demand, underserved populations; 2) Between July 2025 and July 2028, the program’s existing integrated care training curriculum will be enhanced through the addition of new annual training activities and rotations; 3) By July 2028, the program will have improved its training of psychology interns in integration of care, OUD/SUD through faculty development; 4) By July 2028, the local healthcare workforce will be expanded and enhanced through the retention of at least 60% of trainees. All project activities have been developed with an emphasis on training interns to provide culturally competent, trauma informed, SDOH and evidence based care for high demand, high need, vulnerable, diverse, and underserved populations Our Rochester Psychology Training Community Consortium meets the criteria for and formally requests continued funding preference based on Qualification 1.
