Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training Program - The proposed project will increase the supply of behavioral health professionals and improve the distribution of a well-trained behavioral health workforce in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area (WMA) with a focus on increasing access to behavioral health services for children, adolescents, and young adults. Children, adolescents, and young adults in the WMA experience extreme health disparities resulting from varying access to social determinants of health. Many experience high risk or high need for behavioral health services while residing in neighborhoods with limited access to services. Master of Social Work (MSW) students will therefore receive enhanced training in trauma-informed behavioral health practice in order to meet the behavioral health needs of WMA children, adolescents, and young adults. Enhanced training will include: 1. experiential training at one of 10 community-partner agencies providing behavioral health services in primary care settings in the Washington, D.C. metro area; 2. participation in a new nine-credit graduate-level certificate program, Strengthening Resilience: Interdisciplinary Approach to Intergenerational Trauma (IAIT); and 3. simulated learning experiences that will allow students to role-play scenarios they will encounter in team-based behavioral health settings. The project will create opportunities for graduate-level students in nursing and psychology, and for working professionals, to participate in enhanced training alongside MSW students. Community partners providing interdisciplinary behavioral health services in primary care settings will be engaged to serve as experiential-learning sites for MSW students. They will also be invited to participate in the Project Advisory Board and to include staff in professional training offered through the University. The proposed project will increase the number of underrepresented minority (URM) students enrolled in on-campus and online MSW training by: 1. recruiting undergraduate students from minority-serving undergraduate institutions; 2. recruiting working professionals employed at community partners to participate in part-time training; 3. offering stipends to help with cost-of-living expenses during the advanced portion of MSW training for 60 students; and 4. offering support and resources to address the Social Determinants of Learning. The Catholic University of America is requesting funding priority as the MSW program has demonstrated ability of training social work students in integrated care settings. The University also requests funding priority 1 as a program that has demonstrated the ability to train psychology and social work professionals to work in integrated care settings, and a funding preference (qualification 1) for a high rate of graduates placed in practice settings serving medically underserved communities.
