Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training Program - Overview: It is critical that we improve the volume and training of psychologists who can address and manage the complex behavioral and physical health needs of individuals in high-need, high-demand, medically underserved areas (MUAs), inclusive of children, adolescents, and emerging adults. RUBHC proposes to provide didactic and experiential training and supervision in integrated care (IC), integrated pediatric services, and integrated SUD treatment for 6 new internship positions annually in our 1-year APA-accredited, doctoral psychology internship program based in Newark, NJ. This project builds on a dedicated effort to partner with community-based clinics in MUAs and other cross-discipline Rutgers departments to promote IC education, training, and services state and nation-wide. How the project will be accomplished: RUBHC will develop, implement, and operate RUISIP-Newark to administer high-quality training in IC, pediatric, and SUD/OUD treatment to 24 psychology interns across four 1-year cohorts. To enhance training and access to interdisciplinary resources, we will collaborate with the New Jersey Medical School; (2) six community-based primary care settings in MUAs/HPSAs, including one FQHC, that will serve as experiential sites; and (3) clinical and IC experts, including The New Jersey MAT Center of Excellence at RU New Jersey Medical School, and the New Jersey Association of Mental Health and Addiction Agencies (NJAMHAA), an advocacy-based group focused on legislation, policy, and community outreach. Objectives: (described more in Project Narrative): 1) Increase the number of new or expanded community partnerships with experiential training sites in high-need and high-demand areas; 2) Promote collaborative training by using team-based models of care to integrate behavioral health care into interprofessional primary care settings using the RUBHC CIC blended Primary Care Behavioral Health (PCBH) model. RCQI will be used to identify barriers and guide training implementation; 3) Recruit a diverse workforce interested in working with children, adolescents, and young adults, encouraging applications from students from underrepresented areas and those with cultural, racial, and linguistic diversity; 4) Recruit, develop, and expand the capacity to train clinical supervisors to support and mentor trainees, ensuring effective, culturally responsive training/supervision in IC, pediatric care, SUD, and other priority areas. Clinical Priorities: Interns will be trained in and provide IC/pediatric/SUD services with a further focus on topics such as culture, trauma, communication with patients and families, telemedicine, and chronic disease management. Experiential training will occur in one of six partnering primary care and student-based care sites in high-need MUAs and HPSAs that have been deeply impacted for decades by a wide range of chronic physical and behavioral health conditions. All sites share RUBHC’s mission to increase the number of psychologists and behavioral health providers trained in team-based IC in their communities, and to sustain this training program beyond the grant period. This project requests Funding Priority 1 and Funding Preference Qualification 1.
