Rural Communities Opioid Response Program - Pathways - Cherokee Nation Behavioral Health (CNBH) proposes a comprehensive, culturally grounded workforce development initiative to increase the number of rural youths pursuing careers in behavioral health. This RCORP-Pathways project addresses long-standing provider shortages and behavioral health differentials across the Cherokee Nation reservation in northeastern Oklahoma, where the majority of counties face higher-than-average rates of suicide, overdose mortality, and mental health distress. At the same time, many American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) youth in these communities face significant barriers to postsecondary education and limited exposure to behavioral health career pathways. The project aims to strengthen the rural behavioral health workforce by establishing a coordinated Pathways Network that provides early exposure, hands-on learning, mentorship, and academic support to middle and high school students. Key activities include: Assessing regional workforce trends, engaging educational institutions in developing entry points into behavioral health training, coordinating structured mentorship opportunities connecting youth with near-peer mentors, local professionals, and Elders, creating culturally relevant, trauma-informed experiential learning opportunities (e.g., internships, job shadowing, community-based placements), supporting youth-led engagement through listening sessions, peer-to-peer programs, and leadership roles in network governance, and identifying braided funding to sustain activities beyond the grant period. This project will serve primarily AI/AN youth in rural areas of the Cherokee Nation reservation, with targeted outreach to communities with high rates of poverty, limited access to care, and educational barriers. The long-term goal is to reduce behavioral health workforce gaps and support the next generation of community-based professionals who reflect the cultures, values, and experiences of the populations they serve.
