Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training Program - Funding Priority 1: Rosemead School of Psychology of Biola has a history of training clinical psychology professionals to work in integrated care settings (i.e., two or more health disciplines). Evidence for this funding priority, including academic coursework, evidence for placing students for advanced practicum training, doctoral internship, and first employment in integrated care settings (e.g., integrated health community clinics, hospitals, medical settings) is detailed in Attachment 8. Biola is also requesting Funding Preference – Qualification 1: High Rate. Rosemead School of Psychology has a high rate for placing PsyD/PhD graduates in practice settings with a focus of serving residents of medically underserved communities (= 50%). Biola University (Biola) proposes Culturally Competent Connections: Expanding Access to Mental Health Treatment in the “17 Greater Los Angeles” areas through Tele-Behavioral and Integrated Behavioral Health (the CCC Project), a HRSA BHWET project that will increase the supply of behavioral health professionals and improve the distribution of a well-trained behavioral health workforce. Biola is an emerging Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) located just outside Los Angeles in La Miranda, CA. The proposed program will directly address four needs in the Greater Los Angeles area: (1) Limited Access to Mental Health for Latinx and African American populations; (2) Need for Integrated Behavioral Health Services in “LA 17”; (3) High Quality Training in Culturally/Linguistically Responsive Care; and (4) a Shortage of Diverse Providers. Objective 1. Increase the number of new or expanded community partnerships with experiential training sites in high need and high demand areas. Trainees (10 annually, 40 total) will receive stipends of $32,500 for advanced experiential training at one of eight partner experiential training sites. These partner sites are a mix of community/public health centers, hospitals, clinics, and non-profit integrated healthcare organizations. Most of them are in designated mental health professional shortage areas, serve children and adolescents, integrate mental health into primary care, and serve a large Spanish speaking patient population. Objective 2. Promote collaborative training by using team-based models of care to integrate behavioral health care into interprofessional primary care settings. Key program activities include training and coursework in integrated behavioral health and telehealth, advanced training in Latine Mental Health, and supports/supervision for bilingual service providers. Objective 3. Recruit a diverse workforce interested in working with children, adolescents, and young adults. Provide continuing education for clinical supervisors at partner sites, ongoing training for Biola faculty, community networking designed to increase awareness of needs in high-need communities in Greater Los Angeles, and collaboration with other regional BHWET awardees. Objective 4. Recruit, develop, and expand the capacity to train clinical supervisors to support and mentor behavioral health trainees. Two sub-objectives are (1) Objective 4A. Prepare CCC Fellows to be strong clinical supervisors after graduation, and (2) Objective 4.B. Develop and support clinical supervisors at project partners. Key activities include training Biola graduate students to be effective supervisors, offering continuing education to partner supervisors, and collaborating with other active BHWET programs.
