UC GRANT WILL INCREASE TRAINING OF CLINICIANS TO WORK WITH AT-RISK YOUTH

A nearly $2 million grant to the University of Cincinnati’s College of Allied Health Sciences will establish the UC Bear-CAT Fellowship Program.

The goal of the project is to increase the number of adequately prepared graduate-level behavioral health clinicians entering and continuing practice with at-risk children, adolescents, and transitional-age youth (ages 18-24) in the Greater Cincinnati region.

The UC Bear-CAT (Children, Adolescents and Transitional-Age Youth) Fellowship Program is a collaboration between the School of Social Work and the UC College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services’ mental health counseling, school counseling and the doctoral-level school psychology programs.

Program participants will receive financial support, behavioral health training specific to the child, adolescent, and transitional-age youth population, with additional training focused on team-based care in integrated behavioral health and primary care settings and telebehavioral health.

“This project is similar to other behavioral health workforce training grants that the School of Social Work and Counseling Program has received in the past,” says Dana Harley, PhD, associate professor in the School of Social Work in the UC College of Allied Health Sciences. “Shauna Acquavita, PhD, in the School of Social Work, Michael Brubaker, PhD, and Amanda La Guardia, PhD, in mental health counseling and Tai Collins, PhD, in the doctoral school psychology program came together to brainstorm strategies to meet the behavioral health needs of youth in the region,” Harley said. “Through this collaboration, the Bear-CAT Fellowship was formed.”

More than a hundred students will be accepted over the course of four years. Stipends of $10,000 will be offered to master’s level students while doctoral level students will receive $25,000 stipends.

Julia Villarreal is a graduate student in the UC School of Psychology and says collaborating with students from different disciplines to create a comprehensive care model for patients is very appealing.

“I think there is a huge need to make sure that we’re developing our cultural competencies in terms of working with youth, making sure we’re taking a strengths-based, culturally sensitive approach for children and adolescents we’re working with,” says Villarreal. “I’m currently getting my school psychology degree, so the hope is to continue working either in schools or clinics with minoritized youth, so I think this is going to provide even more emphasis and background for that in the future.”

I think a lot of underlying issues that we see in social work can be addressed through mental health. I think a lot of people who have mental health problems are underserved.
“I am excited about the interdisciplinary nature of this project,” says Professor Harley. “It’s always a pleasure to work with a skilled team of experts to plan the training of the next generation of behavioral health providers for children, adolescents and transitional-age youth.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), ADHD, behavior problems, anxiety and depression are the most commonly diagnosed mental disorders in children. The CDC reports that one in six children between the ages of two and eight in the United States (17.4%) had a diagnosed mental behavioral or developmental disorder.

Molly Swaidan, a second-year student in the School of Social Work is looking to this program to increase her training in the area of mental health.

“I think social work in general is really needed but specifically mental health,” says Swaidan. “I think a lot of underlying issues that we see in social work can be addressed through mental health. I think a lot of people who have mental health problems are underserved.”
Harley says the Bear-CAT program takes education out of the classroom and into the community.

“The students will take with them a plethora of knowledge, training, skills and experiences,” says Harley. “It also excites me the youth in the Greater Cincinnati region will have some of the best and brightest behavioral health professionals trained to meet their needs.”

Next Lives Here
The University of Cincinnati is classified as a Research 1 institution by the Carnegie Commission and is ranked in the National Science Foundation’s Top-35 public research universities. UC’s medical, graduate and undergraduate students and faculty investigate problems and innovate solutions with real-world impact. Next Lives Here.

Overcoming the challenges posed by mental health requires innovative approaches to meeting needs. It also takes cooperation among local experts and organizations. In meeting these objectives, the Urban Health Pathway at UC sponsored an all-day Mental Health Action Summit on October 12.

Featuring a mix of academic, professional, and community representatives, the summit used Nippert Stadium’s third-floor open space to inspire collective thinking and creativity around a series of mental health topics.

Specifically, the day featured a series of presentations from researchers and practitioners presenting data analysis on topics ranging from improving access to behavioral healthcare, stress management techniques, health care outreach to minority communities, and overviews of the state of research on trauma and stress.

Speakers addressed themes familiar to most in attendance, including the trauma-based effects children can encounter, challenges with health care access for lower-income residents, and COVID-19’s lingering mental health impacts on both individuals and communities.

Summit organizers recognized that research-based insights are best translated into on-the-ground action through working relationships between academics and practitioners. And it was the practitioners who took center stage in the summit’s afternoon break-out sessions. These sessions, split between separate focuses on children and adults, included speakers Melissa Powers (Judge Court of Common Pleas, Juvenile Court), Kevin Jamison (Assistant Superintendent of the Princeton City School District), Tiphanie Galvez (Cincinnati Police Department), and Dorothy Smoot, (Urban League of Greater Southwest Ohio) (among others).

Spectrum News 1 Ohio filmed portions of the Summit for inclusion in its special series “Building Resilient Communities,” airing throughout the state in November.
The Summit’s final session gave participants brainstorming opportunities to outline next step possibilities in focusing efforts with the region’s critical needs and formed a Mental Health Collaborative Working Group.

The article was written by Brian Calfano, Interim Head, Department of Journalism, Professor of Political Science and Journalism

Next Lives Here
The University of Cincinnati is classified as a Research 1 institution by the Carnegie Commission and is ranked in the National Science Foundation’s Top-35 public research universities. UC’s medical, graduate and undergraduate students and faculty investigate problems and innovate solutions with real-world impact. Next Lives Here.