This notice announces the opportunity to apply for funding under the Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training (BHWET) Program for Professionals.
Program Purpose
The purpose of the BHWET Program for Professionals is to increase the supply of behavioral health professionals while also improving distribution of a quality behavioral health workforce and thereby increasing access to behavioral health services. A special focus is placed on the knowledge and understanding of children, adolescents, and transitional-aged youth at risk for behavioral health disorders.
Program Goals
- Establish relationships with community-based partners (e.g. hospitals, crisis centers, state and local health departments, emergency departments, faith-based organizations, first responders, and judicial systems) to increase access to quality behavioral health services in high need and high demand areas for populations across the lifespan;
- Promote collaborative training by utilizing team-based models of care in integrated, interdisciplinary behavioral and primary care settings; and
- Recruit a workforce that reflects participation in the institutions’ programs of individuals and groups from different racial, ethnic, cultural, geographic, religious, linguistic, and class backgrounds, and different genders and sexual orientations, interested in serving high need and high demand areas interested in serving high need and high demand areas.
Program Objectives
- Increase the number of experiential training sites to promote the integration of behavioral health into primary care settings in high need and high demand areas. Experiential placements must include interdisciplinary training of two or more health disciplines using a team based care approach to provide quality behavioral health services;
- Enhance didactic and experiential training activities through the development of competencies in primary and behavioral integrated, interprofessional team-based trauma informed care, for trainees, faculty, and staff;
- Establish community partnerships to ensure participation in the institutions’ programs of individuals and groups from different racial, ethnic, cultural, geographic, religious, linguistic, and class backgrounds, and different genders and sexual orientations, opportunities for field placements, community education, career development, and provide job placement services, to increase access to behavioral health services;
- Promote technology integration in the provision of services and training programs, including utilizing telehealth services, implementing strategies to increase digital health literacy, and offering options for distance learning; and
- Reduce financial barriers by providing financial support to trainees in the form of stipends and other participant support costs.
HHS and HRSA Priorities
Improving mental health care and access to quality services is a HHS and HRSA clinical priority. The BHWET program seeks to address this priority by increasing the behavioral health workforce across disciplines, in high need and high demand areas, and through the collaboration with community-based partnerships.
Institutional Limit:
Multiple applications from an organization are not allowable. An organization is defined by having a valid Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number or Unique Entity Identifier (UEI).
If you are interested in submitting a proposal, click on the submit notice buttonin the InnfoReady page and follow the required prompts to give us your contact information. If interest exceeds the sponsor's institutional limit, the Office of the Senior Vice President for Research will hold an internal Limited Submissions competition after the Notice of Intent deadline.