{"id":8331,"date":"2022-08-25T09:47:03","date_gmt":"2022-08-25T14:47:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin-new\/?post_type=campus_story&p=8331"},"modified":"2022-08-25T09:47:03","modified_gmt":"2022-08-25T14:47:03","slug":"uw-whitewater-lands-9-1-million-grant-to-help-transform-states-behavior-health-system","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/uw-whitewater-lands-9-1-million-grant-to-help-transform-states-behavior-health-system\/","title":{"rendered":"UW-Whitewater lands $9.1 million grant to help transform state\u2019s behavior health system"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

Since its inception five years ago, the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater\u2019s\u00a0Center for Inclusive Transition, Education and Employment<\/a>\u00a0(CITEE), a department within the Division of Student Affairs, has been working to help people from all walks of life as they explore education and career opportunities. A new, sizable grant will help in furthering that mission.<\/p>\n

Governor Tony Evers and the Wisconsin Department of Health Services have announced the center will be awarded approximately $9.1 million through the American Rescue Plan Act to enhance an existing\u00a0Qualified Treatment Trainees<\/a>\u00a0(QTT) grants program.<\/p>\n

The program supports placements for behavioral health professionals with a training license who need hours of observed practice for their full license. Trainees are able to provide clinical care under supervision, and these supervised hours are a requirement for clinicians to become fully licensed treatment providers.<\/p>\n

Jessica Smith, the center\u2019s director, said the grant will have a notable impact on the program\u2019s ability to address the workforce shortage in this industry and will have a ripple effect for organizations offering behavioral health services across the state. Grant recipients will be able to hire more qualified treatment trainees and thereby serve more clients, addressing waiting lists for care.<\/p>\n

\u201cHistorically, there hasn\u2019t been a lot of emphasis on developing trainees in the area of supervision,\u201d Smith said. \u201cWe know that high-quality supervision can support trainees\u2019 clinical skill development, and we hope it will also promote their longer term success, retention as clinicians, and also support supervisor satisfaction. Ultimately, it will help the clients that they serve by providing them with the best treatment available.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Three
Jessica Smith, center, director of UW-Whitewater\u2019s Center for Inclusive Transition, Education and Employment, accepted the grant award at a ceremony and news conference at Children\u2019s Wisconsin in Milwaukee on Aug. 3, 2022. With her, from left, are Dr. Maria Amarante, clinical director of the Multicultural Trauma and Addiction Treatment Center of Wisconsin, and Teresa Steinmetz, director of the Bureau of Prevention Treatment and Recovery, Wisconsin Department of Health Services.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Smith said the new award will help people on and off UW-Whitewater\u2019s campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will bring tons of opportunities for students,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a great time to be going into\u00a0social work<\/a>, counseling or marriage and family therapy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Lakeia Jones, chief executive officer and director of Milwaukee-based\u00a0AMRI Counseling Services<\/a>, has worked with the center in the past via its QTT grants program.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I came across this program, I was so excited to be a part of it. It\u2019s been a great opportunity to connect with other supervisors at other agencies and work together to provide supervision to students and supervisees,\u201d said Jones, a UW-Whitewater alum who has been in the behavioral health field for 22 years. \u201cClinical supervision is extremely important. If you don\u2019t have anybody providing that kind of work, you end up having individuals in the field without any type of guidance or direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adah Muwonge, who is graduating this month from UW-Whitewater with a master\u2019s degree in\u00a0counselor education<\/a>, had the opportunity to intern this spring at AMRI Counseling Services. She has been hired before graduation for a counseling position within the agency.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the hands-on training she received through the Qualified Treatment Trainees program, Muwonge, of Milwaukee, said, \u201cThis has put me in a place to really understand and learn more about myself and my needs and what I want to do in the future. There\u2019s been a lot of self-exploration throughout this summer.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Adah<\/p>\n

Muwonge, who also holds a bachelor\u2019s degree from UW-Whitewater in\u00a0psychology<\/a>, said the experience she has gained in the field has only solidified the course she has embarked on since first walking onto the university campus seven years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow I really know, it\u2019s for me,\u201d Muwonge said. \u201cI\u2019m learning where I can fine tune my own personal practice and the way that I counsel in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

A hallmark of UW-Whitewater is to ensure people from all racial, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds have an opportunity to receive an education and pursue their career goals. Directing funds toward such efforts as the QTT grants program is another means of furthering that mission, Smith said. With diversity, equity and inclusion in mind, Smith said the grant will help in one area that has been a challenge in the past.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe intention is to remove the barriers that people might have, particularly because we know that graduate students are frequently asked to do their placements or internships unpaid,\u201d she said. \u201cIt certainly is a challenge for many people, particularly if we want to diversify the workforce.\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of the grant money managed by the center will go toward supporting students directly and developing new educational pathways to behavioral health careers, including a pilot program with\u00a0UW-Whitewater at Rock County<\/a>\u00a0to make it easier for students to move from an associate degree in human services to a bachelor\u2019s degree in social work. Additionally, the university will develop a post-master\u2019s certificate in treating people diagnosed with both mental health and substance use disorders.<\/p>\n

For more information about the\u00a0Center for Inclusive Transition, Education and Employment<\/a>\u00a0or the QTT grants program, contact Jessica Smith, research program director, at 262-472-1706 or\u00a0smithjl@uww.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

Written by Dave Fidlin | Photos by Ann Stadler and Craig Schreiner<\/p>\n

Link to original story: https:\/\/www.uww.edu\/news\/archive\/2022-08-citee-grant<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since its inception five years ago, the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater\u2019s\u00a0Center for Inclusive Transition, Education and Employment\u00a0(CITEE), a department within the Division of Student Affairs, has been working to help people from all walks of life as they explore education and career opportunities. A new, sizable grant will help in furthering that mission. Governor Tony Evers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":8334,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","institution":[84],"story_category":[],"class_list":["post-8331","campus_story","type-campus_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","institution-uw-whitewater"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story\/8331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/campus_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8331"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=8331"},{"taxonomy":"story_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story_category?post=8331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}