Grant Goals 2021-2024

  • Expand the behavioral health care workforce in rural, low-income areas by focusing on the recruitment of a diverse student body, diverse faculty members, and expanding existing internship sites
  • Educate about employment and loan repayment options to students
    • Partner with loan repayment programs and offer student participation in HRSA virtual job fairs
  • Expand internship site partnership opportunities to support CMHC, School Counseling, and School Psychology interns
    • Partner with FQHCs and schools in rural, low-income areas of need across the state of New Hampshire
  • Provide supervision training for site supervisors to support the development of student interns
    • Develop a curriculum based on Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Education Programs (CACREP) and American Counseling Association (ACA) Standards for supervisory training
  • Provide telehealth training for site supervisors and interns to support the development of student interns
    • Include telehealth supervision training as part of PSU’s Annual Supervision Institute
    • Provide telehealth training to students, faculty, and behavioral health professionals through workshops/trainings and conferences
  • Train students in the use of evidence-based programming and tools through attendance at Better Outcomes Now training of trainers and conducting research into evidence-based assessment tools for use in practice
    • Train students on how to use Partners for Change Outcome Management Tool and how to identify other evidence-based assessment tools and practices
    • Train students in identifying evidence-based interventions, specifically to address high risk behaviors (substance use, intimate partner violence, bullying)
    • Develop and offer an Expressive Arts Therapy curriculum
  • Focus on violence prevention for children, adolescents, and transitional-aged youth
    • Offer trainings to students, faculty, and professionals on intimate partner violence and human trafficking, and providing intimate partner violence groups for high school students led by student interns
    • Provide training on restorative justice practices to students, faculty, K-12 educators, and behavioral health professionals to address victimization from youth crimes
    • Offer anti-bullying programming to students and educators in NH schools, training interns in anti-bullying programming (including cyberbullying issues), and providing supportive resources to the LGBTQ+ community (including information about suicide prevention)
    • Partner with NH Coalition Against Sexual Domestic Violence regarding the issue of child abuse and providing parenting skills training to parents, guardians, and caregivers; concurrent trainings for students and educators will also be provided to prepare them for working with parents, guardians, and caregivers in this population
  • Address the mental health issues post-COVID pandemic with adolescents and transitional-age youth
    • Train students, faculty, and behavioral health professionals on mental health issues related to post-COVID pandemic life while also addressing the disparities and inequities in academic performance due to variations in educational platforms for learning (i.e., in-person vs. remote learning)
  • Address the emotional impact of COVID on students, faculty, and site supervisors by providing additional emotional support for students, interns, faculty, and site supervisors
  • Promote cultural competence among students and faculty
    • Address oppression and inequity of diverse cultures through trainings to educate students, faculty, and professionals on these subjects and their mental health implications
    • Advocate to address inequality and disparities experienced by minority groups and individuals living in rural and underserved communities
    • Provide Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) training to students, faculty, educators, and behavioral health professionals and implement the use of ACES in field placement experiences for interns
  • Address substance misuse among adolescents and transitional-aged youth
    • Develop an adolescent and transitional-aged youth substance use prevention and intervention clearinghouse website for NH residents, school professionals, behavioral health providers, and medical providers
    • Provide substance use prevention programming to NH schools
  • Collaborate with other 2021 HRSA BHWET grant recipients to explore interdisciplinary opportunities to support supervisors, students, and behavioral health professionals
    • Develop and lead colloquiums in areas of: telehealth; supervision; mental health issues of children, adolescents, and transitional-aged youth; cultural competence development; and violence prevention
  • Explore and develop research studies that focus on outcomes of grant-related work
    • Collaborative research project on Better Outcomes Now
    • Research outcomes on internship experiences
    • Presentation and publications related to interdisciplinary HRSA grant efforts (i.e., student internships, trainings)