Graduate Psychology Education Program (GPE)

Link

https://www.hrsa.gov/grants/find-funding/HRSA-25-067

Additional Links

Notice of Funding Opportunity (Grants.gov)

Deadline

Application Deadline: Jan 21, 2025

Sponsor

Bureau of Health Workforce (BHW)

Purpose

Offers funding to institutions and programs to develop and expand didactic and experiential training opportunities for doctoral health service psychology students, interns, and residents. Aims to increase the number of health service psychologists practicing in community-based primary care settings in high need and high demand areas, with special focus on trauma-informed care and substance use disorder (SUD) prevention and treatment services.

Program objectives include:

• Recruit, train, and prepare trainees to work in community-based primary care settings
• Provide didactic and experiential training curricula, including trauma-informed care, SUD and/or opioid use disorder (OUD) prevention and treatment services, along with interdisciplinary training
• Develop academic and clinical partnerships
• Provide ongoing faculty development and staff training

Required program activities include:

• Recruit a diverse group of doctoral health service psychology students, interns, and/or post-doctoral residents interested in serving in high-need, high-demand areas after graduation
• Provide stipend support to trainees
• Enhance didactic and experiential training activities to improve health service psychology trainee competencies
• Develop or expand academic and community-based partnerships to provide experiences in different settings, such as health centers, rural clinics, academic institutions, schools, correctional facilities, and/or specialized residential facilities
• Conduct faculty and staff development training to support trainee curriculum
• Collect National Provider Identifier (NPI) numbers from all trainees before the end of the training year and post-graduation employment demographics for at least 1 year after program completion
• Inform trainees about HRSA-sponsored loan repayment programs and priority status when applying for National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Programs
• Use evidence-based monitoring practices to collect specified program and performance data
• Collaborate with the identified HRSA technical assistance provider at least once per budget period
• Participate in federally designed evaluations

Proposed training programs must focus on opioid use disorder (OUD) and other substance use disorders (SUDs); trauma-informed care; tele-behavioral health strategies; and knowledge and understanding of behavioral health disorders in children, adolescents, and young adults.

At least 25% of training time at sites must include experiential training on OUD and other SUD prevention and treatment. Other training focus areas may include medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), social determinants of health (SDOH), and provider mental health and well-being.

For this opportunity, high need and high demand areas are identified as:

• Counties with less than 10 licensed psychologists per 100,000 population as documented in CWS Data Tool
• Sites located within a Mental Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) and/or a Facility Mental HPSA with a score of 16 or above as found in the HPSA Find Tool
• Sites located within a geographical area considered rural as defined by the HRSA Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) as found in the Rural Health Grants Eligibility Analyzer

Trainees may receive no more than 12 consecutive months of stipend support through this program. Part-time trainees are allowed to receive a stipend prorated at one-half of the fixed amount for no more than 24 consecutive months. Required minimum stipend amounts for full-time trainees are as follows:

• $32,500 for doctoral students
• $36,500 for doctoral interns
• $60,000 for post-doctoral residents

Amount of Funding

Award ceiling: $450,000 per year
Project period: 3 years
Estimated number of awards: 50
Estimated total program funding: $22,800,000

At least 4 grants will be awarded to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) or other minority-serving institutions (MSIs).

Who Can Apply

Eligible applicants are accredited doctoral, internship, and/or post-doctoral residency programs of health service psychology, including clinical psychology, counseling, and school psychology.

Eligible clinical institutions include:

• Hospitals
• HRSA-funded health centers and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs)
• Rural Health Clinics (RHCs)
• Other community-based clinical settings

Applicants can request a funding preference under a qualification for placing program trainees and graduates in medically underserved communities (MUCs):

1. Qualification 1 - High Rate: Must demonstrate that at least 50% of program graduates in practice settings serving MUCs in academic years 2022-2023 and 2023-2024.
2. Qualification 2 - Significant Increase: Must demonstrate a 25% increase placing program graduates in MUCs from academic year 2022-2023 to academic year 2023-2024.
3. Qualification 3 - New Program: Must meet at least 4 of the criteria related to MUCs specified in Part 4 of the program guidance. New programs are defined as any program that has graduated/completed less than 3 classes.

Medically underserved communities are defined as Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs), Medically Underserved Areas (MUAs), Medically Underserved Populations (MUPs), or a Governor Certified Shortage Areas for Rural Health Clinic (RHC) purposes HPSA. Applicants can document these designations using the HRSA Shortage Area Dashboard.

Current GPE award recipients whose grants are scheduled to end on July 31, 2024 are eligible to apply for this funding opportunity and should apply as "Competing Continuations."

Geographic Coverage

Nationwide

What This Program Funds

Capacity Building • New Program • Operating Costs and Staffing • Training Providers

Application Process

Application instructions, requirements, and other information can be found in the funding announcement.

Applicant webinar recording

Contact

For programmatic or technical questions:
LCDR Courtney Labitzky, BSN
301-443-6752
GPE25@hrsa.gov

For grants management or budget questions:
William Weisenberg
301-443-8056
wweisenberg@hrsa.gov

Topics This Program Addresses

Healthcare Workforce • Mental Health • Prevention • Substance Use Disorder • Treatment