Proposal due date: April 13, 2020

Purpose of the Program:

The purpose of this program is to support training programs that enhance and expand paraprofessionals knowledge, skills and expertise, and to increase the number of peer support specialists and other behavioral health-related paraprofessionals who work on integrated, interprofessional teams in providing services to children whose parents are impacted by opioid use disorders (OUD) and other substance use disorders (SUD), and their family members who are in guardianship roles. Additionally, a special focus is on demonstrating knowledge and understanding of the specific concerns for children, adolescents and transitional aged youth in high need and high demand areas2 who are at risk for mental health disorders and SUDs.

Program Objectives are to:

• Enhance and expand, didactic educational support and experiential field training opportunities for OIFSP paraprofessional trainees that target children, adolescents and transitional age youth whose parents are impacted by OUD and other SUDs, and their family members who are in guardianship roles. These two components (didactic and experiential field training) comprise Level I training and are further explained in the Background section.
• Develop, or establish a partnership with, registered apprenticeship programs to provide in-service training that places paraprofessional trainees in behavioral health-related positions addressing OUD and other SUDs. The apprenticeship program constitutes Level II training and is also further explained in the Background section.
• Reduce financial barriers by providing financial support to trainees in the form of tuition/fees, supplies, and stipend support.
• Create additional training positions beyond current program capacity to increase the number of paraprofessionals trained by a minimum of 10 percent in year one and maintain that level each year of the 4-year project period, with a focus on working with families who are impacted by OUD and other SUDs.

Additional information including the Notice of Funding Opportunity can be found on the HRSA site.