CEP receives grant to impact children, families, young adults across southern NM

A nearly 1$ million dollar federal grant will help train students in the College of HEST’s clinical mental health counseling and school psychology programs to focus on factors impacting children, teens and young adults in rural and medically underserved communities.

The grant will fund Project ACT, or Access; Collaboration; Training, which will provide financial support to 16 graduate-level students as well as their supervisors. The grant will be awarded over two years at $470,000 per year. Additional training in Spanish counseling will make the training even more impactful.

“We are excited about this new opportunity to provide additional support to students committed to serving our communities,” says Anna Lopez, an associate professor in the Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology and the grant’s principal investigator. “I am especially grateful for the additional support that will be provided to our bilingual counseling trainees as they are often required to complete additional training with no extra support. We are hoping to change that.”

The project also seeks to address shortages by establishing community partnerships to provide field placements and career development opportunities that assist with behavioral workforce development.

“Grants such as these are critical to addressing the shortages in the behavioral health workforce, especially those who serve our more vulnerable communities, our young people, who are experiencing a crisis in mental health,” says Elsa Arroyos, head of the Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology and the grant’s co-principal investigator.

The Clinical Mental Health Counseling program is accredited through the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Relation Educational Programs, and the Ed.S. School Psychology program is accredited through the National Association of School Psychologists. The Doctoral School Psychology program is seeking accreditation through the American Psychological Association.

For more information about the NMSU Counseling and Educational Psychology department, visit cep.nmsu.edu.