This story spotlights one important aspect of our mental health grants: job education and training. Mental health is very important to the WoodNext Foundation. We have made grants to more than 25 nonprofits working in this area. Mental health affects many parts of life, including your overall health, your financial situation, your work, and your ability to navigate big life changes. Our grants help people get therapy and other services. We also support research to find better mental health treatments.
One major barrier to getting services is that there aren’t enough therapists. To address this, we gave the following new grants this year for university programs in Texas that train new therapists:
The University of Texas at Austin Amplify Center
Located on the Austin Community College Eastview Campus, UT Health Austin’s Amplify Center offers mental health services for young adults. It aims to make these services accessible, engaging, and relevant to 18- to 29-year-olds. WoodNext is funding Amplify to hire and train new social work graduates as therapists, care navigators, and education and employment coaches.
The University of Texas at Austin Susan and Anthony Wood Postgraduate Scholarships for LCSW Workforce Development
We’re funding a two-year, post-graduate scholarship program to help licensed master of social work (LMSW) graduates become licensed clinical social workers (LCSWs). LCSWs are specifically trained to provide mental health services, including psychotherapy.
The Texas A&M University WoodNext Mental Health Workforce Development
We support mental-health-related training in multiple ways at Texas A&M. Part of our gift increases the number of counseling psychology trainees to provide therapy to Texas A&M students via University Health Services. We’re also increasing the number of graduate assistants for the counseling psychology PhD program. For Texas A&M’s clinical psychology PhD students, we’re offsetting training costs to help students stay on track with getting their licenses to practice therapy. WoodNext is also supporting the development of an online training program to prepare faculty and staff across the Texas A&M system to support students’ mental health issues.
Fathers’ UpLift
For the past few years, we have also supported the nonprofit Fathers’ UpLift. This group supports fathers who have had trouble with the law or other challenges. It provides counseling and coaching so these fathers can stay involved in their children’s lives. WoodNext helps the organization train more therapists across the country to use its methods.
