The Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology at New Mexico State University recently received a nearly $1 million grant from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration to provide training for students studying clinical mental health counseling and school psychology.


 
The grant will fund Project ACT, or Access; Collaboration; Training, which will meet the needs of vulnerable and underserved children, teens and young adults in southern New Mexico by increasing the number of trainees in behavioral health services provided in underserved and rural communities. The grant will be awarded over two years at $470,000 per year.


 
The Clinical Mental Health Counseling program is accredited through the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Relation Educational Programs, the EdS School Psychology program through the National Association of School Psychologists, and the Doctoral School Psychology program is seeking accreditation through the American Psychological Association. All programs are housed in the NMSU College of Health, Education and Social Transformation.


 
The objectives of the grant include providing financial support to 16 graduate-level clinical mental health counseling and school psychology students as well as their supervisors with a focus on factors impacting children, teens and young adults in rural and medically underserved communities. Additional training in Spanish counseling will make the training even more impactful.


 
“Grants such as these are critical to addressing the shortages in the behavioral health workforce, especially those who serve our more vulnerable communities, our young people, who are experiencing a crisis in mental health,” said Elsa Arroyos, interim head of the NMSU Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology and the grant’s co-principal investigator.


 
The project also seeks to establish partnerships with community partners to provide field placements and career development opportunities that assist with behavioral workforce development to address critical shortages.


 
“We are excited about this new opportunity to provide additional support to students committed to serving our communities,” Anna Lopez, an associate professor in the Counseling and Educational Psychology Department and the grant’s principal investigator. “I am especially grateful for the additional support that will be provided to our bilingual counseling trainees as they are often required to complete additional training with no extra support. We are hoping to change that.”


 
For more information about the NMSU Counseling and Educational Psychology department, visit https://cep.nmsu.edu/ .

The full article can be seen at https://newsroom.nmsu.edu/news/nmsu-programs-receive-grant-for-behavioral-health-trainees-in-rural--underserved-communities/s/e54e7da6-f9b6-408b-b80f-92b49050687b