95.3 / 88.5 FM Grand Rapids and 95.3 FM Muskegon
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

MDHHS awarding stipends for student-interns working toward behavioral health degrees

File Photo of social worker
Wikimedia Commons
File Photo of social worker

The goal is to help increase Michigan’s mental health workforce

To earn a university degree in social work or professional counseling, a student is sometimes required to complete hundreds of hours practicing their skills in an internship.

More often than not, it's unpaid… that requires a student to provide services while paying tuition fees up front.

Now, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is helping reduce the financial burden by providing a stipend.

Amber Myers helps manage the program. She says more than two hundred students were recently selected to receive stipends of up to $15000.

“The stipend does aim to ease the financial pressure on students by allowing them to focus on their professional growth and educational experience, as opposed to worrying about how they're going to pay for it.”

Myers says the program encourages participants to commit to looking for work in Michigan’s behavioral sector after graduation.

As WKAR's Bilingual Latinx Stories Reporter, Michelle reports in both English and Spanish on stories affecting Michigan's Latinx community. Michelle is also the voice of WKAR's weekend news programs.
Related Content