Thursday, March 13, 2025
3/13/2025
South Carolina—like many other rural southern states—has experienced a startling increase in opioid misuse, opioid dependence, and opioid-related overdose deaths in recent years. Yet, there is a critical shortage of trained mental and behavioral health professionals and paraprofessionals with the knowledge and skills needed to address opioid misuse and opioid use disorder (OUD) and to support the individuals, families, and communities impacted by the opioid crisis. To respond to this need, the Department of Psychology at the University of South Carolina—along with an array of clinical and community partners—developed the Integrated Care for Recovery (I-CaRe) Training Center in 2022 to build capacity for integrated behavioral care in order to respond to challenges created by the opioid crisis. With funding and technical support from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the I-CaRe Training Center has exceeded initial goals, training 12 doctoral psychology fellows in integrated behavioral health; establishing clinical externship sites across South Carolina for provision of integrated care delivered by interprofessional teams; developing and implementing a large number of behavioral health trainings for interprofessional and community groups; launching new clinical-translational research; and delivering over 1800 direct client hours of service to individuals affected by the opioid crisis. Now, the I-CaRe Training Center proposes to expand its mission—by bringing paraprofessionals, including recovery coaches (RCs), peer support specialists (PSSs), and community health workers (CHWs)—into the training center to take part in a new specialty training track, “Supporting Youth and Families affected by the Opioid Crisis”. Over the course of four years, we will provide a specialized Level I training program to 23 paraprofessionals and a Level II training program to 12 paraprofessionals, including RCs, PSSs, and CHWs, who we will recr uit through our strong existing partnerships with Recovery Community Organizations (RCOs), primary and specialty care clinics, and paraprofessional organizations across South Carolina. We will increase our initial number of paraprofessional trainees by 10% after Year 1, showing our commitment to scaling up capacity. The training track we implement will build on fundamental skills offered in an existing certificate program for paraprofessionals, the Peer Recovery Coach Training certificate, provided by our key community partner, The Courage Center. The Courage Center is an RCO and approved education provider for the Addiction Professionals of South Carolina. The Peer Recovery Coach Training certificate currently provides a 46-hour training specific to the four domains, (Advocacy, Mentoring/Education, Recovery Support, and Ethical Responsibility). While this foundational training is strong, it does not provide paraprofessionals with key skills and knowledge related to supporting the needs of children, adolescents, and families impacted by the opioid crisis. Similarly, the University of South Carolina also provides high-quality entry-level training for CHWs through its Community Health Worker Institute (CHWI) and accredited CHW certificate program. However, there is no existing specialty training track for CHWs that is focused on youth and families impacted by the opioid crisis. The new “Supporting Youth and Families affected by the Opioid Crisis” I-CaRe Training Track will meet a critical need. Our focus on partnering with RCOs and an existing CHW training institute will ensure we have a strong applicant pool, community-centered partnerships, expertise in the unique roles of various paraprofessionals, and a high number of externships (i.e., apprenticeship) sites to support on-the-job training of paraprofessionals who will have the knowledge and skills necessary to address needs of children and families impacted by the South Carolina opioid crisis.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).