North Carolina State University School of Social Work is applying for funding and requesting $2,399,086 to support the Trauma-Responsive Youth Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training (TRY-BHWET) program to increase the supply of behavioral health professionals and improve the distribution of a well-trained behavioral health workforce. TRY-BHWET has a specific emphasis on preparing clinical social workers to meet the needs of youth at risk for mental health, trauma, and behavioral health disorders. Specifically, over 4 years we will recruit a diverse pool of 51 master of social work (MSW) students and prepare them to deliver integrated behavioral health services that are high-quality, evidence-based, and trauma-informed. This program will increase and enhance partnerships with 100 youth-serving behavioral health training sites in medically underserved areas and provide evidence-based training and support to 250 clinical supervisors to increase their capacity to support and mentor trainees. Further, we will develop and provide interprofessional collaborative training to MSW trainees, faculty, and community providers using team-based models of care to integrate behavioral health into primary care, school, and subspecialty settings. The experienced grant team has successfully recruited and trained 275 MSW students through prior workforce development programs, including 29 that will graduate this year. The TRY-BHWET program builds upon the strong infrastructure, didactic and experiential training, and community partnerships we developed through these prior projects, and is informed by our successes, lessons learned, and the evolving needs of communities, agencies, and trainees. Given increasing rates of reported mental health problems among youth in North Carolina, a well-prepared workforce of clinical social workers can improve the integration of behavioral health care into primary care, school, and subspecialty care settings, and improve population health among youth in North Carolina.

North Carolina State University (NC State) School of Social Work is applying for continuation funding and requesting $1,919,598. NC State University������������������s experienced grant staff have successfully recruited and trained 197 BHWET trainees, including 30 that will graduate this year. Grant staff will establish inter-professional relationships with community agencies, provide evidence-based trauma-informed training to agency staff, faculty and trainees, recruit and train a diverse workforce, and utilize an evidence-based method of program evaluation. Our MSW BHWET graduates enter the social work field well prepared to address behavioral health needs with cultural humility, practice experience, and knowledge of evidence-based treatment modalities. Since 2014, as a HRSA funded site, NC State has risen as a leader in behavioral health engagement and training both statewide and locally. Funds for this proposal will provide high-quality inter-professional training to agency staff, faculty, and MSW students to increase knowledge and access to high quality behavioral services in the state. Our grant staff will administer a training program that focuses on health center collaboration, community engagement, and violence prevention to address the behavioral health needs of the target population, children, adolescents, and transition age youth in NC. Over four years, we will enhance and establish interdisciplinary relationships with community-based partners, recruit 60 new training sites, provide training and support to 116 MSW students, agency staff, and faculty. NC is a state with rural and urban population center where 94 out of 100 counties are flagged for mental health care shortages.

North Carolina (NC) urgently requires more paraprofessionals to respond to the prevention, treatment, and recovery needs of children, adolescents, and transitional-age youth and families affected by Opioid Use Disorders (OUD) and other Substance Use Disorders (SUD). The opioid epidemic has significantly harmed NC������������������s rural and urban areas. Four areas of the state are in the top 25 in the United States for overdose deaths (CDC, 2018). This Opioid Workforce Expansion Program (OWEP) proposal requests $899,791.00 over three years, to increase the number of peer support specialists and other behavioral health-related paraprofessionals (referred to as OWEP trainees throughout this proposal) prepared to provide OUD/SUD prevention, treatment, and recovery services in high-need and high-demand areas. These additional paraprofessionals will expand capacity, will improve access to quality treatment, and will foster an integrated and/or inter-professional approach to the OUD/SUD crisis. NC State University (NC State) OWEP staff will collaborate with community-based training sites to accomplish this goal. We will place trainees in high-quality integrated or inter-professional team-based agencies that serve children, youth, and families experiencing OUD/SUD. Our specific, measurable objectives include: (1) Recruit additional OUD/SUD community-based training sites in high-need and high-demand areas; (2) Recruit OWEP trainees to enroll in established certification-linked courses; (3) Place OWEP trainees in integrated interdisciplinary OUD/SUD training sites that incorporate at least two disciplines; and (4) Assist OWEP trainees with job placement in high-need and high-demand areas, and collect post-training data for program evaluation and lessons learned. The PI/Program Director has five years������������������ experience administering similar HRSA projects and will be responsible for overall grant management including budgets, reports, and compliance. The Program Coordinator will manage student training activities and program tasks, develop and maintain community relationships, and work with community-based training sites. The Program Evaluator also has five years������������������ experience on related HRSA grants. She will monitor the evaluation plan and will collect, analyze, and disseminate data. The Outreach Coordinator will recruit applicants from underserved communities to increase the number of trainees committed to treating OUD/SUD in high-need, high demand areas. Key stakeholders include the NC Harm Reduction Coalition, NC Department of Health and Human Services, and the Governor������������������s Institute. They will guide and support capacity building in overdose prevention and OUD/SUD education and treatment throughout the state. NC State is requesting consideration for Funding Priority and Funding Preference for demonstrated ability to place trainees in integrated care settings and with medically underserved populations.

Clinical mental health is a demanding field for a variety of reasons, including the emotional nature of the work, complexity and severity of client need, exposure to client suffering, and high levels of organizational demand and workload. While many clinicians experience compassion satisfaction (CS) or positive benefits from their work, the challenges and stressors associated with the work can also lead to a variety of adverse responses, including secondary traumatic stress (STS) (Figley, 1995; Newell & MacNeil, 2010). The high rates of STS among mental health clinicians necessitate efforts to better understand these conditions, as well as require the development and evaluation of intervention strategies. This need has only intensified since COVID-19 erupted in March 2020, which has placed additional stressors on mental health clinicians and increased the needs of their clients. Consequently, the goal of this proposed project is to explore STS and evaluate potential targets for intervention among a sample of mental health clinicians. Findings from this project will contribute to further understanding these phenomena as well as inform the development of intervention approaches.