Mental and Behavioral Health Education and Training Grants financed by 2012 Prevention and Public Health Funds (PPHF-2012)

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The Mental and Behavioral Health Education and Training Grants Program (MBHETG) is authorized through Title VII, Section 756 of the Public Health Service (PHS) Act (U.S.C. 294e-1), as amended by Sec. 5306(a) of the Affordable Care Act, Public Law 111-148 to support eligible institutions of higher education with accredited health professions training programs in social work and psychology to recruit students and provide education and clinical experience in mental and behavioral health. Sec. 750 (a) of the PHS Act requires that academic institutions receiving assistance under Part - D of Title VII of the PHS Act, Interdisciplinary Community-Based Linkages must use the funds in collaboration with two or more disciplines. The program aims to increase the number of social workers and psychologists who pursue clinical work with high need and high demand populations. For this funding opportunity, high need and high demand refers to rural, vulnerable, and/or underserved populations, and veterans, military personnel and their families. The Funding for this announcement is provided through the Affordable Care Act's Prevention and Public Health Fund (Section 4002 (42 U.S.C. 300 u-11). The specific goal of the program is to strengthen the clinical field competencies of social workers and psychologists who pursue clinical service with high need and high demand populations. This program recognizes the high need and high demand experienced by military personnel and veterans, as well as the impact of war and deployment on their families. The following objectives support accomplishment of the program goals: o Provide funding to help psychology and social work graduate programs to increase their overall number of enrolled students and provide educational training and field experiences to increase the number of clinically prepared behavioral health providers working with high need and high demand populations. Clinical experiences are important components of any psychology or social work program. o Fund institutions of higher education with professional and accredited training programs in social work and psychology to: (1) recruit new students interested in pursuing a clinical concentration with identified special populations, (2) develop and implement interprofessional training, (3) add to existing, expand and/or foster the development of new pre-degree internship slots for PhD/PsyD psychology students or field placements for MSW students, and (4) provide stipend support for students for the required field placement or pre-degree internship requirements. Seventy-five percent of the requested funding must be distributed as stipends to the social work and psychology graduate students to support their field placements and pre-degree internships respectively. The remaining twenty-five percent can be used to support 1, 2, and 3 above. o Provide stipend support for social work students (at least $10,000/per year/per student for 2 years for MSW students and for 1 year/per student for Advance Standing MSW students) who are committed to working with high need and high demand populations such as military personnel and their families during their field placement/s and after graduation. The first year field placement for MSW students will focus on developing a social work foundation and the second year will allow for concentration in a particular area. Applicants need to develop a plan for how they will gauge the student's commitment to working with high need and high demand populations following graduation. o Provide stipend support for doctoral level (PhD/PsyD) psychology student trainees (at least $20,000/per psychology student) who are committed to working with high need and high demand populations, such as military personnel and their families during their pre-degree internship and after graduation. Psychology programs must demonstrate a strong working relationship with APA accredited internship programs focused on these populations. The goal of the institution collaborating with APA-accredited internships is to facilitate the development of new training slots (not supplant other funding) and ultimately accommodate more students into internships. As a result of this funding, graduate social work and psychology programs will increase their overall number of enrolled students; create more field placement and internship slots for students working with high need and high demand populations; place more students in these field placements and internships, and ultimately increase the number of clinical providers working with these populations.

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