Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training Program - Building on its success in training 120 social work and psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP) students over the last 3.5 years, the award winning Interdisciplinary Education and Training Experience (IDEATE) Program will continue to address critical gaps in behavioral health care for children, adolescents, and transition-aged youth in New York state. IDEATE will build an interdisciplinarily trained, diverse behavioral health workforce of social workers and PMHNPs who are mentored by clinical supervisors with enhanced capacities in interprofessional team-based models of care in integrated behavioral health settings. In building this workforce, IDEATE will increase access to high quality integrated behavioral healthcare in Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSA). To accomplish these goals, the IDEATE Program team will implement a cohort model of experiential training and didactic curriculum in integrated behavioral health serving advanced-level masters and doctoral level social work and psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners from diverse backgrounds supervised by faculty, administrators and agency partner experts. IDEATE will focus on children, adolescents and transitional age youths in underserved communities in the Bronx, Kings, Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk counties. IDEATE agency partners include Northwell Health, New York Health and Hospitals, and virtual provider Concert Health, which have integrated behavioral healthcare sites in HPSA-designated zones. Building on existing external (e.g., Zero Overdose) as well as internal partnerships (e.g., Adelphi University’s (AU) Continuing Education and the Institute for Adolescent Trauma Treatment and Training), IDEATE will build a robust and holistic training model that includes a trauma-informed integrated pediatric behavioral health care certificate available to current students, graduates, partners, and regional BHWET grantees. IDEATE will use technology to enhance access to graduate education, increase access to quality care for underserved communities, increase health literacy, and develop telehealth simulations and clinical immersions using virtual reality. IDEATE will build an ECHO learning community with clinical supervisors and other regional BHWET grantees. IDEATE is committed to supporting graduate employment in integrated behavioral health with agencies located in HPSAs. By engaging IDEATE alumni, AU’s Career Services, and partner agencies, IDEATE will hold impactful career fairs and networking sessions, which will help graduates access employment opportunities in pediatric integrated behavioral health. By 2029, the IDEATE program will have trained 91 MSW and PMHNP students and 8 doctoral students; enhanced the experiential and didactic curriculum; improved trainee competencies in pediatric integrated behavioral health; enhanced agency partnerships; increased the number of integrated behavioral health professionals employed in HPSAs; and enhanced clinical supervision via new ECHO learning community. We are requesting priority for placing nursing and social work students in training sites in integrated settings that include mental health professional shortage areas. In addition, we are requesting funding preference for placing graduates in practice settings serving medically underserved communities as noted in Attachment 8. Lastly, Adelphi University is designated as a Minority Serving Institution and an Asian American Native American, Pacific Islander Serving Institution.
