Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training Program - The proposed project plans to increase through a Competing Continuation application the supply of behavioral health professionals through a Doctoral Internship of Clinical Psychology program in Santa Clara County, California and improve the distribution of a well-trained behavioral health workforce, with a specific focus on increasing access to behavioral health services for children, adolescents, and young adults. The AACI internship program supports improved access to quality behavioral health services for a target population of predominantly low-income immigrants, refugees, asylees, and asylum seekers from children through older adults who are at risk for or are experiencing behavioral health disorders and dual diagnoses. Since 2008, AACI has provided a formal internship and training program. The 12-month full-time training program will provide interns with training track options (Family & Children, Young Adult/Adult or Center for Survivors of Torture), onboarding training, didactic trainings, clinical supervision, live supervision, required and optional rotations, a peer supervision rotation, psychological and neuropsychological testing and assessments, youth-focused group facilitation experience, community outreach, and peer/community networking opportunities. AACI is a Federally Qualified Health Center that was accredited in 2018 by the APA to provide Doctoral Internships in Clinical Psychology at our main health center location at 2400 Moorpark Ave, San Jose, CA, 95128. There is only one experiential training site for this program, which will host 6 Doctoral Psychology Interns over a 12-month time period with a full-time, 40 hours per week schedule. The training site offers tele-behavioral health services, integrates BH into Primary Care and has interdisciplinary training with two or more disciplines. The training site has a Mental Health Facility HPSA score of 21 (out of 26), which indicates a high need for BH providers. The training site is an accredited internship training site hosted within an integrated FQHC that provides both primary care and behavioral health care at the training site using an integrated care model. The Doctoral Internship of Clinical Psychology training program will address a wide variety of unmet community needs, ranging from the ever-growing need for behavioral health care services, as well as serving a population with a range of health-related social needs. AACI’s experiential training site is also able to serve a wide range of health and wellness needs that our community members face through a whole person care model, that helps clients navigate our array of services from primary care, behavioral health, wellness prevention and education, and advocacy services through our integrated and coordinated care approach. AACI’s patients also experience a range of health-related social needs that range from linguistic barriers, immigration status, poverty, unemployment and lack of insurance. AACI’s BH Department serves clients regardless of insurance coverage and our FQHC serves a primarily un- and under-insured population. AACI’s BH Department provides services for mild to moderate behavioral health needs that are embedded in our integrated FQHC model of care provided within a primary care setting and we serve moderate to severe behavioral health needs through specialty mental health services in our clinic, via telehealth, and in the community in schools or at home. AACI is requesting a Funding Priority as a program that has demonstrated the ability to train psychology, psychiatry, and social work professionals to work in an integrated care setting. A funding preference is also requested as AACI has met Qualification 1: High Rate for placing graduates in a practice setting that has a principal focus of serving residents of medically underserved communities, as well as Qualification 2: Significant Increase for achieving a significant increase in the rate of placing graduates in such settings.
