Department of Social Work Awarded $3.1 Million to Educate and Train Behavioral Health Practitioners for Careers in Integrated Care

NC State Department of Social Work has been awarded $3.1 million from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS) to expand integrated health service through education and training in behavioral healthcare fields of practice.

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), a division of the USDHHS is committed to developing the behavioral health workforce serving populations across the lifespan, including rural and medically underserved areas. North Carolina has a shortage of credentialed behavioral health providers across the state. In keeping with NC State’s land-grant mission, the Department of Social Work will utilize its existing university-community partnerships in supporting high-impact educational practices to expand integrated health collaborations between social work, medicine, nursing, counselor education, and other health-related disciplines.  

HRSA funded two behavioral health initiatives, concurrently, at NC State. Building on the past 3-years of grant funding from the USDHHS, one award supports graduate student education and training (HRSA Behavioral Health Scholars). The second award focuses on preparing professionals to achieve the necessary credentials for certification or licensure, in behavioral health practices that provide integrate care in Child Welfare, School Social Work, and Addictions/ Recovery interventions and services.

With 4-years of HRSA funding, Dr. Jodi K. Hall, Principal Investigator, will direct the efforts to educate and train 30 graduate social work students. Each selected student, HRSA Behavior Health Scholar will receive a stipend of $10,000. The scholars will train for 672 hours in a community mental health agency and receive over 30 hours of additional training through workshops, conferences and symposia. Graduates will be prepared to address mental health and substance use disorders across the life span.

Additionally, Dr. Karen Bullock, Principal Investigator, will lead the License and Certificate Program with 4-years of funding that support students seeking certification or licensure in behavioral health areas of practice. This university-community engagement initiative extends NC State’s health-related social work education, training curricular, and access to non-degree seeking (NDS) students, as well as, degree-seeking students. These efforts builds upon health-related social work education and training that NC State Department of Social Work has provided for more than three decades.

The Department of Social Work began it undergraduate social work degree program (BSW) in 1974 and sustained longevity and momentum that lead to the implementation of a graduate social work program (MSW degree) in 2005. Since then, student interest and demand have increased with the support of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and University resources and national academic reputation. In a short period of time the MSW program gain national recognition and is now ranked in the top-100 MSW programs in the U.S., according to U.S. News & World Report.

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