Saturday, May 4, 2024
5/4/2024
The mental and behavioral health of young people is an increasingly pressing concern in the United States. Due to a shortage of mental health professionals and limited access to care for Michiganders, there is an urgent need to build workforce capacity. To address this issue, the Resiliency Center for Families and Child (RCFC) at Western Michigan University (WMU) proposes the development and implementation of the Youth Mental health Interprofessional Networking and workforce Development (Y-MIND) program in partnership with WMU's College of Health and Human Services, School of Medicine, and College of Arts and Sciences. The Y-MIND program aims to substantially expand the workforce and increase access to mental and behavioral health care for children and families. The program will be modeled after the Michigan Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (MI-LEND) program, which has extensive history in preparing the workforce for meeting the needs of people with developmental disabilities. The primary goal of the project is to build capacity to foster resiliency, well-being, and quality of life among young people experiencing mental and behavioral health challenges by training students in culturally responsive services with an interprofessional perspective. The program will serve WMU graduate students across different health-related disciplines, such as medicine, nursing, occupational therapy, psychology, social work, and speech-language-hearing services. In addition, undergraduate students in a pre-allied health or psychology program would receive a scaled version of the Y-MIND, at their current learning level, and implement content into an interprofessional internship. The Y-MIND interprofessional training for WMU students focuses on eight key tenets: recruiting and supporting diverse students, providing interdisciplinary understanding of mental and behavioral health, teaching evidence-based practices, facilitating internships in diverse communities, organizing a student mental health summit, training in cultural responsiveness, program evaluation, and continuous quality improvement based upon stakeholder feedback. Student learning outcomes will be assessed through quizzes, activities, and projects, including a capstone project that focuses on applying the knowledge to their future career, which will be presented at the Mental and Behavioral Health Symposium. In addition, Goal Attainment Scaling will be used to access aggregate mental and behavioral health skill development and knowledge translation across the entire program. During this first year of implementation, faculty from WMU departments and colleges will work together to create and deliver a series of learning modules on treating individuals with mental and behavioral health challenges. These faculty will work with WMU students who will participate in weekly engagement with a mentor, 2-4 asynchronous Mental and Behavioral Health learning modules per month, engagement with a caregiver of a youth with mental and/or behavioral health care needs, and monthly discussion forums with an interprofessional group of faculty. At the end of the project, the Y-MIND team will have developed a mental and behavioral health content and delivered a structure that can be used for future cohorts of students. This will help expand the workforce capacity for mental and behavioral health needs of children and families in Michigan and beyond.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
