Recruit Behavioral Health Providers

Project Name: Recruit Behavioral Health Providers

Team Leaders, Members and their Organizational Affiliations:
LEADERS:

  • Alyson Kass – Munson Healthcare

TEAM MEMBERS:

  • Gwen Williams – Northwest Michigan Health Services, Inc.
  • Alissha Bibbs – District Health Department #10
  • Joanie Hazelton – Ferris State University

September 2022 Behavioral Health Summit Materials

A lack of coordination among colleges, universities and organizations across the state has resulted in a limited number of behavioral health interns being placed throughout northwest Michigan. The credentials and degree needed, and the reimbursement for each degreed professional varies across organizations. This contributes to the difficulty for students to identify which organization may be the best fit when exploring internship opportunities. Organizations struggle because there isn’t a good place to find college and university programs, internship requirements, and contact information.

This Action Team collected data and information on internship opportunities and requirements from colleges and universities across the state. They also surveyed organizations within the CHIR region to learn more about the internship placement opportunities that exist for students. Hired a consultant to develop an internship directory website that is planned to go live in November of 2022.

Schools across the state were excited to learn about the efforts this team is making to coordinate internship placement opportunities for students within Northwest Michigan.

The organizations within the region that participated in the Northwest Michigan Behavioral Health Internship Survey indicated that their top 3 resources to benefit their ability to accept and recruit interns include: an electronic internship directory, a regional internship coordinator, and a shared pool of internship supervisors that regional organizations can utilize.

  • Continue to work with the consultant to build the internship directory site and populate it with the data gathered from schools and regional organizations.
  • Promote the internship directory among schools and organizations and consistently update the information that is housed on the directory.
  • Work with the newly hired internship coordinator to streamline the internship placement process and increase the number of behavioral health interns in the region.
  • Initiate the process to develop a shared pool of internship supervisors for the region.