The Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OMHAS) found a 353 percent increase in demand for behavioral health treatment between 2013 and 2019 (Hernandez & Lampl, 2021). Additionally, 2.4 million Ohioans live in communities that lack adequate behavioral health professionals (Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addition Services, 2023). In response to this crisis, a collaboration was formed between OMHAS and the Ohio Departments of Higher Education and Medicaid. The mission of the resulting Ohio Wellness Workforce Great Minds Fellowship is to increase the number of Ohioans entering the behavioral health field. According to the Ohio Department of Higher Education (n.d.), “The program will help students jump start a successful future in their chosen career path while allowing communities across Ohio to better care for those living with mental health and substance abuse disorders” (para. 1).

Great Minds Fellowship funds were awarded in fall 2023 to state colleges and universities to support enrollment in and graduation from high-quality behavioral healthcare programs. Sinclair Community College received more than 1.2 million dollars to support this endeavor. Most of these funds directly impact students enrolled in the college’s Social Work Program. Through the Fellowship, Sinclair has granted 32 social work students up to $10,000 each to support their educational and career aspirations. Through March 2025, we intend to provide funds to at least 30 additional students.

The Great Minds Fellowship requires that students who receive funds have access to field placements in any number of Certified Behavioral Health Centers throughout the state of Ohio. The Social Work program has partnered with social service providers in Miami Valley to support this process. Sinclair students are job shadowing in organizations such as Homefull, an agency addressing homelessness in Miami Valley, and Clearing Paths, which provides dual diagnosis treatment for community members suffering from mental illness and/or substance use disorder.

Students are receiving first-hand experience by observing provider service delivery. Students learn processes, such as intake, and practice skills, including rapport-building and engagement, which can be difficult to teach in a classroom setting. As a requirement of the Fellowship, students commit to working at least one year in the behavioral health field upon graduation. The students’ placements create pathways to employment and allow them to network throughout the process. Social work student Janae Christopher (personal communication, June 28, 2024) said,

My placement at Homefull has been a powerful learning experience. I am so grateful to have the exposure to the caseworkers, assignments, and clients that I have so early in my social work journey; it has truly felt like this was where I was meant to be.

A collaboration like Great Minds provides welcome support to students pursuing employment in fields that are often lacking in financial resources; many organizations that employ behavioral health professionals operate in the nonprofit sector and are often unable to offer competitive salaries and benefits. Behavioral health professionals are in high demand throughout the U.S. The COVID-19 pandemic, societal issues, and racial and gender-based discrimination have impacted behavioral health needs (The JED Foundation, n.d.), and our students are ready to answer the call.

On the heels of the Great Minds Fellowship, Sinclair received an additional grant as part of the state’s Behavioral Health Workforce Expansion Program. This funding has provided Sinclair’s Social Work Program the additional support needed to offer outreach services to local high schools and community centers throughout Miami Valley. With the additional funds, Sinclair has hired two part-time Outreach Coordinators and invested in the talents of our own student population by hiring two students to create an informational website and manage a podcast.

The Outreach Coordinators are meeting with students from underserved populations and with lived experience in both urban and rural areas to discuss areas of the behavioral health field and options for employment, education, and licensure. Our hope is that these efforts will directly support an increase in enrollment in Sinclair’s Social Work Program as well as the college’s ability to expand the number of trained behavioral health professionals entering the workforce over the next several years.

Sinclair’s podcast will educate listeners about the behavioral health field, including substance use disorder treatment, mental health treatment, and working with special populations. We have created a plan for fall and spring career fairs at both our Dayton and Mason campuses, a transfer fair, and several lunch and learn sessions. Furthermore, we will provide students opportunities to attend professional development, including Advocacy Day 2025, an event sponsored by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), and the NASW Ohio Annual Statewide Social Work Conference.

We will also strengthen the partnerships we have with local agencies and the most popular transfer institutions in the area. The college’s partner institutions have been invited to a January 2025 Transfer Fair and to speak to classes about their programs. Additionally, we’ve been asked to partner on a Great Minds Expansion Grant received by Miami University. Miami will provide Sinclair $45,000 in funding to provide an additional nine $5,000 scholarships for social work students.

Sinclair’s goal is to directly impact the number of qualified behavioral health professionals entering the field within the next two years. Not only are we providing our students the support they need to pursue a career path which is versatile and in demand, we are also helping to meet the unmet behavioral health personnel needs of our community and the state of Ohio.

References

Hernandez, S., & Lampl, T. (2021). Breaking point: Ohio’s behavioral health workforce crisis. The Ohio Council of Behavioral Health & Family Services Providers. https://www.theohiocouncil.org/breakingpoint

Ohio Department of Higher Education. (n.d.). Great Minds Fellowship. https://highered.ohio.gov/initiatives/workforce-development/great-minds

Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addition Services. (2023, October 26). OhioMHAS announces comprehensive plan to address Ohio’s behavioral health workforce challenges. https://mha.ohio.gov/about-us/media-center/news/pr-10-26-2023#:~:text=Additionally%2C%20an%20estimated%202.4%20million,strengthen%20Ohio's%
20behavioral%20health%20workforce

The Jed Foundation. (n.d.). What factors impact our mental health? https://jedfoundation.org/resource/what-factors-impact-our-mental-health

Jenny McDermott, LSW, MSSA, is Professor, Social Work, at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio.

Opinions expressed in Member Spotlight are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the League for Innovation in the Community College.