Behavioral Health Consortium Supporting Interns, Launching Grants

October 16, 2024

Work under The Pierce County Behavioral Health Consortium is underway and gaining momentum, with more than 30 partner organizations working together to address challenges facing this workforce in Pierce County.

In November of 2022, WorkForce Central convened a group of behavioral health practitioners from across Pierce County to better understand the barriers that exist to entering and progressing in the behavioral health workforce. From that meeting and subsequent others, we were able to better understand this challenging field and identify a list of priorities to address these challenges, including pay, internship supervision, training, and career pathways mapping.

The Consortium has been hard at work, convening stakeholders and establishing new projects and programs to support this work. This summer we celebrated graduating interns through the Degrees of Change Summer SEED internship program, a handful of them participating in the consortium internship program. We currently have more than 60 Behavioral Health interns signed on to receive a monthly stipend to help support them as many interns in this field often work for little to no pay.

Kari Haugen, Director for Workforce Initiatives with WorkForce Central said the $200 monthly stipends are being well received and that interns are reporting back the extra cash is supporting them with expenses such as toll fees to cross the Narrows Bridge, utilities, gas, and more.

Six organizations within the consortium are supporting and supervising these interns. These organizations include MultiCare Health System, Comprehensive Life Resources, Consejo Counseling, Hope Sparks, University of Washington Autism Center, and Communities in Schools of Tacoma.

We’re also excited to announce a new grant opportunity for organizations that provide behavioral health services in Pierce County. The grant will support organizations interested in testing innovative strategies that will enhance their capacity to supervise interns and employees/associates working towards licensure and improve the quality of supervision.

The lack of supervisory capacity is a known challenge in the behavioral health talent pipeline, impacting behavioral health organizations’ ability to meet the needs of the communities they serve. Testing new strategies is essential to determining effective ways to grow supervisory capacity within the behavioral health field.

As a learning community, we invite our partners to apply and test approaches that best fit their organizational needs. While working together closely, we will hold space for ongoing thought partnership and co-learning in the shared development of the strategies and outcomes generated through this opportunity. These outcomes will then shape and promote further sustainable investments in behavioral health supervision capacity.

Grants will range up to $60,000. The period to use awarded funds is October 2024 – November 2025. To learn more about how to apply, contact Kari Haugen at khaugen@workforce-central.org.  And to learn more about the Consortium or to join, contact jarmstrong@workforce-central.org.