School-Based Mental Health Worker Career Pathway Program

About the Program

Category: Personnel Management, Employment and Training (Best in Category)

Year: 2013

The School-Based Mental Health Worker Career Pathway Program is an innovative approach to workforce development aimed at recruiting culturally and linguistically diverse students while they are in high school for future careers as mental health workers. This program is one of a variety of County projects designed to address the severe shortage of culturally and linguistically competent mental health professionals. The Pathway Program starts them off with educational training and work experiences that both build commitment to the mental health field as a career option and provide academic background and technical skills to prepare them to enter the mental health field and pursue professional careers. The County program partners through a contract with Health Sciences High and Middle College (HSHMC), an innovative chartered public high school in San Diego, California with a specialized curriculum in the health sciences. Operating independently of a range of constraints on traditional public schools, and subject to rigorous outcome requirements, the “Middle College” component allows students to take college level courses and gain college credits. While HSHMC’s core specialty is to prepare students to enter health sciences and medical technology careers, the County contract adds a specific pathway for careers in the mental health field.