Behavioral Health Academy™

Mental Health Teams

In response to the opioid epidemic and the behavioral health workforce shortage, Community Health Network teamed up with the Indiana University School of Social Work (IUSSW) and the University of Indianapolis Phylis Lan Lin Department of Social Work (UIndy) to launch an innovative behavioral health talent pathway. With support from Ascend Indiana and funding from the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation, stakeholders from Community Health Network, IUSSW, and UIndy completed an 18-month process to build the Behavioral Health Academy™, a talent pipeline yielding 25 – 30 licensed clinical social workers (LCSW) annually who are eligible to become dually licensed as licensed clinical addiction counselors (LCACs) and are specially trained in treating substance use disorders. By filling the workforce gap, additional opportunities will be available to address the critical need for substance use disorder treatment services.

In the 2019/2020 academic year, 27 Masters of Social Work (MSW) students participated in the Behavioral Health Academy. In the 2020/2021 academic year, the Behavioral Health Academy is training 29 MSW students with placements at Community Health Network and also at Sandra Eskenazi Mental Health Center. The creation of this pipeline of qualified, specially-trained therapists is strengthening the fight against the opioid epidemic and helping to change the lives of those with addiction.