$1.9 Million Grant Awarded Providing Student Stipends for the Department of Counseling’s Equity and Justice-Focused Integrated Behavioral Health (EJF-IBH) Counselor Training Project

Developing Equitable & Just Mental Health Services

Julie Chronister, professor in the department of counseling, was awarded a $1.9 million dollar grant from the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to fund the CHSS’s Department of Counseling’s Equity and Justice-Focused Integrated Behavioral Health (EJF-IBH) Counselor Training Project (visit https://ibhequity.sfsu.edu/ for more information). Chronister is the principal investigator and Tiffany O’Shaughnessy and Molly Strear, associate professors, are the co-investigators. The project is a direct response to the behavioral health crisis among our California youth, particularly those from underserved and historically marginalized communities. The project will increase the supply of master level behavioral health counselors from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds who are trained to work in Integrated Behavioral Health within healthcare professional shortage area (HPSA) sites with at-risk children, adolescents and TAY; establish a workforce pipeline between SF State’s counselor training program and Bay Area Federally Qualified Healthcare Settings (FQHC) and/or HPSA sites; and expand EJF-IBH practices with our partner behavioral health agencies. In combination, these outcomes will contribute to improved health outcomes among our most at-risk youth.