Graduate Psychology Education (GPE) Program

This announcement solicits applications for the Graduate Psychology Education program. Program Purpose The purpose of this program is to prepare doctoral-level psychologists to provide behavioral health care, including substance abuse prevention and treatment services, in a setting that provides integrated primary and behavioral health services to underserved and/or rural populations. Applicants must emphasize the integration of behavioral and primary healthcare into clinical practice. The program is designed to foster an integrated and interprofessional approach to addressing access to behavioral healthcare for underserved and/or rural populations. Program Requirements Applicants must Establish or leverage existing partnerships between academic institutions and primary care practice sites that serve underserved and/or rural populations; State the health disciplines that are collaborating in the project and the nature and extent of the collaboration; Increase the number of experiential training slots for doctoral-level psychology students, doctoral-level psychology interns, and/or post-doctoral psychology residents that serve underserved and/or rural populations beyond the program's current capacity; Demonstrate enhanced didactic and experiential training activities to develop competencies of program trainees in integrated and team-based care (in collaboration with two or more health disciplines); and Ensure a culturally competent workforce by recruiting and providing stipend support to doctoral-level psychology students, doctoral-level psychology interns, and/or post-doctoral psychology residents for experiential training in integrated behavioral and primary health care settings who are (1) committed to serving underserved and/or rural populations and/or (2) represent the diversity of the population being served. Competitive applicants will Utilize existing or pending partnerships in underserved communities and/or rural areas to immediately (or within the first 60 days of award) place trainees in experiential training sites that are integrated with primary care; Demonstrate past success at placing doctoral-level psychology students, doctoral-level psychology interns, and post-doctoral psychology residents into primary care settings that provide care to underserved and/or rural populations; Increase the diversity of the behavioral health workforce by developing a plan to recruit and retain students from diverse backgrounds who intend to work with underserved and/or rural populations following program completion; Incorporate Rapid Cycle Quality Improvement (RCQI)[1] to continuously monitor program objectives and make adjustments as needed, to improve program outputs and outcomes over the three-year project period. Funding Priority A Funding Priority of ten (10) points will be given for institutions in which experiential training focuses on the needs of vulnerable groups such as older adults and children, individuals with mental health or substance-related disorders, victims of abuse or trauma and of combat stress disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries, homeless individuals, chronically ill persons, and their families. Funding Preference This program provides a funding preference for some applicants as authorized by Section 791(a)(1) of the PHS Act. Applicants receiving the preference will be placed in a more competitive position among applications that can be funded. [1] http://www.healthworkforceta.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/RCQI_Resource_Guide.pdf