Chatham awarded $1 million grant to support adolescent behavioral health services in underserved and rural communities
Chatham University’s Graduate Psychology and Occupational Therapy Programs were awarded a collaborative two-year grant for more than $1 million from the Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA) to create the Leadership, Advocacy, Supervision Training (LAST) Project.
The LAST Project aims to increase the number of behavioral healthcare professionals and supervisors trained to work with children, adolescents, and young adults (CAY) in underserved or rural communities (URC). Through the program, Chatham will:
Train 22 Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) and Doctor of Occupational Therapy (OTD) Chatham students to provide care and supervision.
Support up to 22 supervisors to become leaders, advocates, and more confident supervisors.
Provide continuing education (CE) training to hundreds of regional behavioral health providers, faculty, and students.
Aim to increase the recruitment of diverse students and supervisors.
As part of the LAST Project, Chatham has partnered with 11 integrated care and school-based sites where students working at those sites will enter an intensive interdisciplinary training project focused on leadership, advocacy, and supervision, as well as the needs of children, adolescents, and young adults with risk factors for or diagnosed with mental health or substance use disorders. Students will also be trained in health disparities, health literacy, health equity, social determinants of health, and linguistic and cultural competence. The LAST project training will be supplemented with career development mentoring and support for job placement.
Dr. Jennifer Q. Morse is the Project lead, with Dr. Chrissy Daeschner serving as Co-PI on the LAST Project. Dr. Morse is a licensed clinical psychologist, Professor in Counseling Psychology, and Executive Director of Counseling and Wellness at Chatham. She brings significant grant experience, as this is her fourth federal grant at Chatham, along with a passion for training students.
“We’re excited about the chance to enhance support for the clinical supervisors who invest so much time and energy into training our students and to expand the range of training sites available to both PsyD and OTD students, especially since some of our sites are interested in having both a PsyD trainee and an OTD trainee, which could be a fabulous synergy,” says Dr. Morse.
Dr. Daeschner is an occupational therapist who joined the Occupational Therapy department at Chatham University in May as the Capstone Coordinator. The LAST grant allows her to utilize her leadership experience from her Capstone and advocacy experience from her role as the POTA Commission Chair for Legislation and Advocacy and President.
“The grant is a wonderful opportunity for our occupational therapy department to strengthen our interprofessional relationships within Chatham University and community partners,” adds Dr. Daeschner. “This will also give our capstone students a new opportunity of growth while completing the experience.”
This recent HRSA grant is one of five federal grants received over the past 10+ years by Chatham’s School of Health Sciences. It is a continued reinforcement of the critical role of Chatham students and faculty in the School of Health Sciences in supporting and enhancing critical health and behavior needs in the region.
This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant #M0152163, Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training (BHWET) Children Adolescents and Youth (CAY) Program, (LAST) for grant amount $529,965 ($1,059,930). This information or content and conclusions should not be constructed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsement be inferred by HRSA, HHS, or the US Government.