The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is providing $2.9 million to hundreds of students enrolled in a behavioral health program.
With one in seven people in Michigan living with a serious mental illness and only one behavioral health provider for every 360 residents, the state is falling short on mental health services. But becoming a mental health provider is not always straightforward. To earn a university degree in social work or professional counseling, a student is often required to complete hundreds of hours practicing their skills in an unpaid internship.
In an effort to ease the financial burden from students and address the critical shortage in mental health care, the state health department launched the MI Behavioral Health Internship Stipend Program (MI-BHISP). The program is intended to increase the number of mental health professionals by providing a stipend of up to $15,000 to eligible students.
“The stipend does aim to ease the financial pressure on students by allowing them to focus on their professional growth and educational experience, as opposed to worrying about how they're going to pay for it,” said Amber Myers, who oversees the Michigan’s healthcare workforce programs.
The state allocated $3.5 million dollars for the program according to a press announcement in July. Officials said the department will distribute $2.9 million in stipends to 210 students in this round of awards. To qualify students needed to be placed at an unpaid internship.
“There's certainly a lot more students who were interested in the program than we had funding available for,” said Myers.
Because over 1,000 students applied, Myers said they had to prioritize applicants based on the location of their internships and the counties with the highest need.
In other words, students working in areas with the fewest mental health providers were given priority for the stipend.
“Those highest need counties are Wayne, Clare, Genesee, Gladwin and Arenac County,” explained Myers.
Even though the program is supposed to also support students pursuing bachelor’s degrees in mental health Myers said there wasn’t enough funding available.
“Because we prioritize those PhD and master’s students, so we were not able to have funding available for bachelor's degree students.”
The stipend is a one-time award distributed in two payments and is dependent on the total number of internship hours required by the student’s degree program.
Students who require between 401 and 600 practice hours are eligible to receive the full $15,000 amount, while those needing between 80 and 200 practice hours are eligible for $5,000. The funding can be used to cover tuition, books, and living expenses.
