Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training Program - With the Behavioral Healthcare through InterProfessional Training (B-HIP) project, UTC will collaborate with eight community partners to increase the number and preparation of highly skilled behavioral health professionals and address the behavioral health needs of children, adolescents, and young adults. B-HIP partners serve a deeply underserved, 11-county target area in Southeast TN. All 11 counties are medically underserved, with either MUA or MUP designation, and 9 of 11 counties are rural. Within the target populations, behavioral health conditions associated with widespread social determinants of health disproportionately affect vulnerable groups, a need exacerbated by a ratio of residents to mental health providers of 3080:1. While UTC has had notable success helping graduates find employment within this target region (Funding Preference, Qualification 1), there is an opportunity to enhance didactic training and experiential learning so that students graduate with a strong understanding of the needs and challenges faced by children, adolescents, and young adults in our target communities and how to provide high quality, responsive behavioral healthcare in an interprofessional setting. In direct response to these needs, B-HIP will achieve the following objectives: (1) Expand 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 care settings. (3) Recruit a diverse workforce interested in working with children, adolescents, and young adults. (4) Recruit, develop, and expand the capacity to train site supervisors to support and mentor behavioral health trainees. To achieve these objectives, B-HIP will establish and evaluate an academic-practice partnership model that aligns with HRSA priorities and will yield immediate results and long-term benefits to address the behavioral health care needs of underserved populations in the target region. Through B-HIP, partnerships with eight experiential learning sites will be expanded to implement this new model, including two school sites and six clinical sites. Approximately 60 students per year (240 total) will be engaged in the integrated learning experience across four UTC graduate programs: social work, clinical counseling, school counseling, and school psychology. Key activities include a digital learning library with video-based trainings and tutorials focused on interprofessional and needs-based topics, such as the virtual provision of services (e.g., telehealth) and practice simulations modules focused on interprofessional care settings and situations that require advanced clinical skills. Each year, 12 students (48 total) will be selected for a traineeship which will include placements in B-HIP partner sites, participation in an annual conference and quarterly Interprofessional Symposia for additional in-person simulation training and interprofessional learning opportunities, and enhanced mentorship and career placement assistance. The partnership will also facilitate a feedback loop for integration and ongoing improvements of didactic and experiential learning and build capacity to recruit and support excellent site supervisors. Project leadership and staff will oversee and support all aspects of project implementation while the program evaluation plan ensures the ability to assess the impact of B-HIP activities/interventions and provide continuous feedback to support ongoing rapid cycle quality improvement. UTC requests a Funding Priority because our programs have demonstrated the ability to train psychology and social work professionals to work in integrated care settings. UTC also requests a Funding Preference because our programs have a high rate for placing graduates in practice settings that have a principal focus of serving residents of medically underserved communities (Qualification 1).
