ARC summit examines mental health workforce
Northeast Mississippi Daily JournalSep 17, 2018
At the Appalachian Works summit held in
An
"It's multifaceted challenge that requires a multifaceted approach," said
"We were hearing from agencies, 'We don't have the resources,'" said
The university drew expertise from its nursing, psychology, social work and rehabilitation faculty, and from the community to create the curriculum, Feroz said. The program was launched in Fall 2017 has been tremendously well received.
There's no prerequisites for the program beyond a high school diploma, opening the program to a wider audience, Feroz said.
ARC served as a partner to create scholarship funding to assist professionals who otherwise couldn't access the training.
Communities can leverage programs from the
The agency focuses on telehealth, rural and underserved regions and community-based training for health professionals. It offers loan repayment programs for health professionals who agree to serve in rural and underserved areas for a set number of years.
"We want to retain them beyond the obligation," said said
There are programs aimed at expanding access to mental health services in primary care clinics.
A new program is focusing on making medication-assisted treatment more widely available. It offers loan repayment for physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, substance use disorder counselors and masters level behavioral health counselors.
Dr. Yesie Yoon, a child and adolescent psychiatrist in
Communities don't have to recruit overseas to reach young psychiatrists, Yoon said.
"A lot of psychiatry residency slots (in
Having adequate mental health resources for youth and young adults can be an important facet of preventing substance abuse.
"Not all people with substance abuse disorders have underlying mental health (issues), but there is a lot of overlap," Yoon said.
michaela.morris@journalinc.com
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