Purpose of Program

Purpose

The purpose of the California State University, Chico Master of Social Work (MSW) Behavioral Health Program (BHP) is to recruit, educate, and place MSW students from culturally and linguistically diverse socio-demographic and other characteristics of historically marginalized communities into behavioral health settings in the North State. MSW BHP students will engage in behavioral health services for children, youth, families, and adults in under-resourced and underserved communities across the 18 Northern California Superior Region (PDF) counties: Del Norte, Bute, Colusa, Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Lassen, Mendocino, Modoc, Nevada, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Suter, Tehama, Trinity, and Yuba. MSW BHP students will provide culturally responsive, integrated primary and behavioral health services in behavioral health agencies during their awarded period, work in multidisciplinary teams across professions and agencies, and be trained in the values of wellness, recovery, and resilience, to include the role of self-help, healing, and empowerment support.

Background

In Spring 2023, the California State University Chico School of Social Work was awarded two behavioral health grants to train MSW students in behavioral health settings. The two funding opportunities are the Behavioral Health Expansion Program (BHEP) and the CalSWEC Public Behavioral Health (PBH) program.

Behavioral Health Expansion Program (BHEP)

The school was awarded the Social Work Education Capacity Expansion (SWECE) grant through the California Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI) to recruit, train, and place social workers to meet the behavioral health needs of the Northern California Superior Region. (PDF) across the next four academic years. The BHEP program provides twelve new MSW students an annual $10,000 financial stipend.

CalSWEC Public Behavioral Health Program (PBH)

The funding from CalSWEC PBH aims to prepare MSW students better to provide effective, evidence-based behavioral health care in publicly funded programs and settings, prepare MSWs to proactively support the integration of behavioral health care services with and within other public services and systems, and enhance the retention and development of MSWs in public behavioral health programs and settings. The CalSWEC PBH program awards twelve MSW students a $25,000 stipend yearly.
As a Behavioral Health Program awardee, students of both programs will receive peer mentorship and access to culturally responsive trainings activities. The MSW Behavioral Health Program will prioritize recruiting new students, faculty, and staff who represent historically underserved communities and socio-demographic and linguistic diversity.

The Behavioral Health Program is led by:

• Program Coordinator, Dr. Judy Vang, LCSW
• Practicum Coordinator, Gail Garcia, LCSW
• Principal Investigator, Dr. Molly Calhoun, MSW
• Cultural Responsiveness and Emotional Liberation Trainer, Dr. Devanji (Juni) Banerjee-Stevens, PhD
• Behavioral Health Faculty, Dr. Qingyi Li, PhD
• Administrative Support Staff, Stephanie Cello

If you would like further information about the MSW BHP, please contact Judy Vang, Program Coordinator at tvang@csuchico.edu