The School of Social Work is teaming up with the Counseling Program in the College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services (CECH) for a $1.9 million grant from the Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA) for the Professionals Ready to Integrate Care (PRI-Care) fellowship program.

The grant, which is headed by School of Social Work associate professor, Shauna Acquavita, PhD, seeks to expand the workforce by integrating behavioral health and services with primary care in the greater Cincinnati region. The PRI-Care program will train 116 graduate students in social work, mental health counseling, and school counseling to provide behavioral health services to individuals across the lifespan who live in underserved communities.

Twenty-nine students will be selected as PRI-Care fellows each year for the next four years. Students will complete specialized coursework related to integrated health care and substance abuse and complete an interprofessional leadership project. PRI-Care Fellows will be supported in their advanced field service or internship through a stipend of $10,000 per student.

The PRI-Care program builds upon the HRSA-funded program Serving At-risk youth Fellowship Experience (SAFE), which began in the School of Social Work in 2014 and the Serving At-risk youth Fellowship Experience in Counseling (SAFE-C), which began in CECH’s counseling program in 2016. The PRI-Care fellowship propels these programs from being multi-professional to inter-professional, from focusing on a target population of children and youth to encompassing individuals across the lifespan, and to greater integrate behavioral health and primary care across health care and educational settings.

The co-investigators on the grant are Dana Harley, PhD, assistant professor in the School of Social Work; Michael Brubaker, PhD, associate professor in CECH’s Counseling Program and Amanda C. LaGuardia, PhD; assistant professor in CECH’s Counseling Program.

By Bill Bangert