SJSU Awarded $28 Million for Health Care Career Training Programs

The College of Health and Human Sciences and the School of Social Work are beginning the fall semester with a brand-new achievement: they just received $28 million in funding for health care career training programs from the California Department of Social Services and the California Department of Health Care Access and Information to support high demand workforce development in careers in behavioral health and adult protective services.

"This funding will provide critical financial assistance to both our students here and those at partner universities, allowing them to focus on their education and professional development," explains Audrey Shillington, Dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences. "By reducing their debt load, we aim to empower more social work students to pursue and sustain careers in behavioral health, an area of growing importance and need in our community, and adult protective services. This initiative aligns with our commitment to fostering a diverse and skilled workforce that can meet the mental health needs of our society. We are excited about the positive impact this funding will have on our students' futures and the broader behavioral health field."

These grants will also "increase our collaborations with the California Department of Social Services and the California Department of Health Care Access and Information, and expand our partnerships with UCs and CSUs," she adds. "These projects will establish SJSU as a leader in this collaborative effort with other California university social work programs. With all these educational and training partners we are improving and expanding the preparation of a quality behavioral health workforce and thereby increasing access to behavioral health services and adult protective services across the state."

The training program funding will be distributed among participating UCs and CSUs, funding master's of social work (MSW) students, largely in exchange for employment commitments designed to fill the numerous vacancies in health care positions throughout California. SJSU will now serve as the hub of these training programs. Collaborations between participating SJSU and the social work programs across both CSUs and UCs will ensure the dissemination of funds to train and educate students across the state.

The grant grew out of a past iteration of the programs called the California Social Work Education Center (CalSWEC), which was previously managed by UC Berkeley. Now San José State will take up the reins.

"We've been entrusted with this considerable responsibility for the entire state," Shillington says. "It puts us in a leadership driver's seat."

The sources of extramural funding are:

• $25 Million for the Public Behavioral Health Stipend Program funded by the California Office of Healthcare Access and Information
• $2.8 Million for the Adult Protective Services Stipend Program funded by the California Department of Social Services
• $480,000 for the Integrated Behavioral Health Stipend Program funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration of the federal Department of Health and Human Services

Social work students enrolled in these programs will receive training funds ranging from $10,000 to $25,000 a year. The integrated behavioral health program is local to the Bay Area, with a strong impetus for students to work in the community after graduation. The other two programs are statewide and require employment commitments, functioning as investments in the community, with students working for state and local agencies after graduation.Each of these training programs focuses on different workforce needs. Adult protective services are similar to child protective services but focused on adult clients and issues, including elder abuse and concerns of care at home. Behavioral health, which is an umbrella term, includes mental health and substance abuse conditions, life stressors and crises, stress-related physical symptoms and health behaviors. Integrated behavioral health "blends care in one setting for medical conditions and related behavioral health factors that affect health and well-being," as Shillington explains.

Shillington thanks Peter Allen Lee, director of the School of Social Work, President Cynthia Teniente-Matson, Vincent Del Casino, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, the San José State Research Foundation, and her College of Health and Human Sciences staff for their "herculean efforts" to get these grants and programs in place. The first students to benefit from these new funding mechanisms will be starting this fall after a lightning-fast implementation that included hiring three experts from the core CalSWEC team at Berkeley to make the transition as seamless as possible: E. Maxwell Davis, Jenny James, and Martina Parashkevova.

Lee is also grateful and excited for the opportunity. "This is not just distributing money," he says. "This is the continuation of vital training and idea sharing, which allow us to understand what the landscape is for future policy, prevention, intervention, and programs. That's what we're hoping to continue."

Shillington is optimistic about the broader impact of this funding. "I am excited and grateful that the State of California's Department of Social Services and the California Department of Health Care Access and Information have chosen us to be their partners in this critical work. They're investing in the future and our MSW students. These students are already coming into social work with their hearts [set on] social change and social justice. Wellness and productivity, and even just enjoying life in general, are all directly impacted by the severity of the behavioral and mental health problems that people are experiencing. Mental and behavioral health touches every family out there in some way. "

Both Shillington and Lee see this grant as a way to tackle and help solve those problems.

"This funding complements what the College of Health and Human Sciences is doing, and it also gives greater exposure and opportunity to not just students in our school [but also other social work students across the state]," Lee says. "It really raises the profile of the university, not only in supporting communities but also hopefully to pave the way for future opportunities."

Learn more about this and other opportunities within the College of Health and Human Sciences.

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.