Worcester Business Journal

8 Worcester Business Journal | September 16, 2024 | wbjournal.com A career support program developed by two leading Central Mass. nonprofits is boosting BIPOC representation in the mental health field BRIDGING the GAP D I V E R S I T Y & I N C LU S I O N BY MICA KANNER-MASCOLO WBJ Staff Writer A s the U.S. faces an ongo- ing workforce shortage among behavioral health providers, one Worces- ter program is working to open pathways for immigrant and refugee BIPOC looking to enter the human services and behavioral health workforce. e Human Services Career Support Program, a collaborative initiative be- tween Open Sky Community Services and Seven Hills Foundation, is a five- month, paid training program offering participants guaranteed employment at one of the two Worcester human service nonprofits upon graduation. On its fih cohort since its inception in 2022, the HSCS program provides classroom training and internship ro- tations to prepare its immigrant and refugee partic- ipants, who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC), for entry-level, direct support roles, namely residential counselors or activity specialists. e program is part of Open Sky's effort to address the organization's workforce shortage and boost diversity among mental health providers in the community, especially among clinicians, said Lorie Martiska, executive vice president, chief advancement officer at Open Sky. e issues of mental health workforce compression and lack of diversity are felt on both the state and national levels. e Center For Health Information and Analysis reports 78% of independently licensed clinicians in Massachusetts identify as white and independently licensed clinicians had the highest vacancy rate among behavioral health organizations surveyed at 28.5%. e U.S. Health Resources and Ser- vices Administration says 122 million people in the United States live in a mental health professional shortage area as of Sept. 4. "is program is absolutely transfor- mative for the participants, but I would say it's also transformative for us as employers," said Martiska. Learning the ins and outs Participants begin the program with three weeks of classroom training before entering into the first of three rotations, each separated by two weeks of class- room training. e rotations begin with shadowing staff members and advance to participants providing supervised di- rect care to clients. Aerward, students spend the final week of the program completing a capstone project, benefits PHOTOS | EDD COTE Participating in the Human Services Career Support program are (from left) Tashiani Forman, Seven Hills career support and advancement navigator; Joseph Casseus, HSCS program gradu- ate; Hans Hadji Casseus, HSCS program participant; and Omo Fagboore, Open Sky career pipeline manager. Lorie Martiska, Open Sky EVP and chief advancement officer

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