Interdisciplinary Health Education Learning Program (IHELP)

Mercy University Programs of Mental Health Counseling, Marriage and Family Counseling, School Counseling, and Occupational Therapy are announcing an opportunity for students interested in working in the area of behavioral health with children, adolescents, and transitional youth in economically disadvantaged and underserved communities after graduation.

The Interdisciplinary Health Education Learning Program (IHELP) was made possible by a grant funded by the Health Resources and Service Administration and will provide up to a $10,000 stipend for the academic year to eligible students during their clinical placements. As part of the program, students will need to commit to 5-10 hours per week of additional education including activities such as webinars and interprofessional events. In addition, students’ site supervisor will also review training.

Students will need to complete an application inclusive of a personal essay, transcript, and an academic reference to be considered for acceptance into the program for the 2021-2022 Academic year.

If you would like further information regarding the program or your potential eligibility, please contact your respective Activities Director:

• School Counseling - Lisa McHale lmchale@mercy.edu
• Mental Health Counseling - Minerva Guerrero mguerrero16@mercy.edu
• Marriage and Family Counseling - Maria Vilanova mvilanova@mercy.edu
• Occupational Therapy - Francine Seruya fseruya@mercy.edu

For general information about the program, please contact the IHELP Fellows Program Director, Dr. Cynthia T Walley at cwalley@mercy.edu

Mercy University Programs of Mental Health Counseling, Marriage and Family Counseling, School Counseling, and Occupational Therapy are proud to announce the Interdisciplinary Health Education Learning Program (IHELP) for students interested in working in the area of behavioral health with children, adolescents, and transitional youth (e.g., college) in economically disadvantaged and underserved communities after graduation. This project will allow Mercy University Fellows in the above four health profession programs to participate in hands-on approaches to preventive health care education in underserved communities during their fieldwork experiences, while advancing their learning about other related fields.

Mercy University has designed its IHELP program to expand internship opportunities that provide services for children, adolescents, and transitional-aged youth who are at risk for behavioral health disorders in high need and high demand areas for graduate Fellows in the four listed programs. Integration of behavioral health care into primary care settings will be a focus of all grant activities. IHELP will support the goal for Fellows to practice in settings that provide services to the above populations in high need high demand areas, particularly in Bronx County in New York City, after graduation.

We are reaching out to you, as a valued field instructor who will be (will continue to be) supervising one of our students in the Fall. This student intern has been chosen to participant in the IHELP program and are we asking for your support. Compensation to you will be in the form of many valuable online  trainings in evidenced based training, including the areas of trauma-informed care, mental health, and telehealth and tele-therapy, in addition to a monetary compensation of $500 dollars. 

For information and questions, please contact the Program Director Dr. Cynthia T. Walley at ihelpfellows@mercy.edu.

Mental Health Association in New York State, Inc. (MHANYS) is an agency of support, education and advocacy for mental health issues, and has been for over fifty years. As part of its mission, MHANYS advocates for change in the mental health system ensuring access for all New Yorkers, fights stigma through community-based partnership programming, and provides information on mental health issues and services. 

MHANYS has led advocacy efforts in NYS resulting in such laws as the Mental Health Awareness Tax Checkoff, which raises funds to end discrimination against mental illness, and Timothy’s Law, which mandates mental health parity. These laws are part of a long, full, and varied history of advocacy, organizing, and grassroots efforts that improved the lives of all New Yorkers.

MHANYS will assist IHELP providing training opportunities in behavioral health and primary care integration. The advisory team will consist of the Program Director, Activity Directory, a representative from each program, program specific site supervisors, and MHANYS. Training, support, and mentorship will be provided by the IHELP Project and Activity Directors to supervisors at sites where IHELP Fellows are placed. An IHELP Seminar series will prioritize cultural and linguistic competencies and include a combination of live zoom workshops by MHANYS, and online modules developed by the Center for Practice Innovations with input from the IHELP Project Director and Activity Directors.

The Center for Practice Innovations (CPI) supports the New York State Office of Mental Health’s mission to promote the widespread availability of evidence-based practices to improve mental health services, ensure accountability, and promote recovery-oriented outcomes for consumers and families. The CPI serves as a key resource to OMH by spreading those practices identified by OMH as most critical to accomplish OMH’s system-transformation initiatives.

As a training partner, the Center for Practice Innovations (CPI), will provide several online evidence-based modules that meet training needs of our students, faculty, and site supervisors. The first module will be Collaborative Care: Integrating Mental Health into Primary Medical Care. The second module will focus on Integrated Care: Providing Medical Care to Individuals with Serious Mental Disorders. 

In addition, other modules in the current catalogue that map onto important competencies. In addition, CPI will provide a custom landing page in CPI’s Learning Management System (LMS) to serve as the central hub for all of your training activities and provide access to all training materials (i.e., modules, videos, documents, etc.). We are certain that our partnership and the resources that CPI provides will support the training needs of your students as they participate in a team-based care approach that will allow them to develop competencies for providing quality behavioral health services.

Furthermore, the CPI modules will help teach the fellows the various competencies for interprofessional collaborative practice that have been identified. They include (1) working with individuals of other professions to maintain a climate of mutual respect and shared values; (2) using knowledge of one’s own role and those of other professions to appropriately assess and address health care needs of patients and to promote and advance the health of populations; (3) communicating with patients, families, communities, and professionals in health and other fields in a responsive and responsible manner that supports a team approach to promotion and maintenance of health and to prevention and treatment of disease; and (4) applying relationship-building values and principles of team dynamics to perform effectively in different team roles to plan, deliver, and evaluate patient/population-centered care.