MAC workshop gains positive response

The KITE Scholars Program is a $1.3 million HRSA grant awarded to the Master of Arts in Counseling (MAC) program. The goal of the grant is to address the shortage of mental health care in Northwest Ohio.  The Integrated Behavioral Healthcare Colloquium will be offered annually over the next three years to help raise awareness and train MAC students and area mental health workers in integrated care to vulnerable and under-served populations.

Thirty people attended the day-long event. Presenters included Precia Stuby from ADAMHS of Hancock County; Mimi Burgess-Todd, a school-based mental health counselor in Tiffin, Dr. Desiree Vega from The University of Arizona, Dean Henry, an attorney from Behm & Henry, and Dr. Jamie Mitchell from The University of Michigan. Six MAC students in the KITE Scholars Program prepared poster presentations discussing integrated care at their internship sites. Topics ranged from the addiction crisis, trauma care in the school systems, the legal side of mental healthcare, supporting the needs of culturally diverse youth and strategies for meeting the needs of African American men in physical and mental healthcare.

The response was positive and Craig Haines, the project coordinator of the grant, looks forward to offering an even more robust colloquium next spring. Questions about the KITE Scholars Program can be addressed to Craig at rhaines@heidelberg.edu.