TAMPA, Fla. — The University of South Florida just received millions of dollars in grant money to help train dozens of graduate students to become mental health professionals in our local schools.
The grants, amounting to a little over $8 million, will help train as many as 40 mental health professionals who will be working with counselors and students in local school districts.
The CDC reports a surge in mental health issues among young people since the pandemic.
The USF program also aims to help schools adopt a framework for mental health assessments, including techniques to increase efficiency – such as spotting issues earlier on when their often easier to treat.
“Setting up systems across the entire school district, that teachers, paraprofessionals, other people can use to identify children that might need more specialized services,” Catia Cividini-Motta with USF’s Department of Applied Behavioral Sciences said.
The program, which ramps up this summer, is expected to last five years. And in exchange for tuition support, the grad students who participate must commit to working in our local schools – for at least four years.
“They’ll learn from each other. What’s working, or maybe what’s not working. Or maybe how we can do things differently," Alison Salloum with USF’s School of Social Work explained. "Or maybe how, what you’re doing, is really effective."
It’s estimated in Florida there’s one mental health counselor per 1,856 students — three times short of what’s recommended.