New UVM program will train and place mental health workers in rural Vermont schools
A new program from the University of Vermont aims to train and place 52 mental health workers in rural schools over the next five years.
The Catamount Counseling Collaborative for Rural Schools, which is funded by a $3.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education, hopes to address two pressing challenges: the increase in rates of anxiety and depression among youth, and the statewide shortage of mental health professionals and social workers.
The program will train graduate students to be school counselors, social workers, and clinical mental health counselors. Prior to launching this initiative, most UVM graduate students in these fields would be placed in internships and practicums at schools around Burlington.
But the grant from the Department of Education is allowing UVM to expand where it sends its students, said Anna Elliott, an associate professor of counseling in UVM's College of Education and Social Sciences, and the program's coordinator. Elliott ran a similar program in Montana for five years before coming to UVM.
"The logistics of being placed further out in the state is just complicated," Elliot said. "And so we're attending to that by providing graduate students with a monthly stipend ... whether they choose to live in the rural community and commute back for school or to live in Burlington and commute to the rural community."
Once students graduate from the program they'll be able to continue to work at the school they were placed at, and if they stay for a year they'll be eligible for an additional $10,000.
Recent surveys conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have found more kids are struggling with mental health issues. Between 2013 and 2023, the percentage of students who felt persistently sad or hopeless increased, the survey says. Meanwhile, the state's Workforce Development Board estimated last year that Vermonter needs 230 mental health providers to meet current demands.
"This initiative not only addresses immediate needs by connecting communities with trained support but also establishes a foundation for long-term solutions in our rural settings," said Zoie Saunders, the state's Interim Secretary of Education, in a written statement.
There will be 10 students placed through the program each year, Elliott said. There are five schools that will have placements this year: Cabot School, Vergennes Elementary, Hazen Union High School, White River Valley Middle School, and the North Country Supervisory Union.
"We might try to form a relationship with a sixth school," Elliott said. "Because this is our first year of implementation we're just taking it one step at a time and making sure that everything that we're doing allows us to approach it with a lot of intentionality."
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