Exposure to community and public behavioral health settings early in a student’s educational process impacts future career development and employment decisions. Local systems and organizations benefit by the linkages created between educational institutions and behavioral health agencies, state hospitals, boards, advocacy groups and other organizations as a result of the support from the the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OhioMHAS) Residency and Training Program. This program supports the recruitment, development and retention of a qualified, diverse, culturally competent workforce within OhioMHAS and Ohio’s public behavioral health system.

Residency and Training funds allocated to universities are used primarily to enable faculty to provide on-site public behavioral health training in a variety of community and hospital settings. Continuity of care is improved when training takes place in both hospital and community settings. The focus for the supported programs is to develop and foster training curriculum and learning opportunities that result in graduates with the knowledge, skills and abilities to provide recovery and resiliency-based community behavioral health services.

There is an expectation that funded university programs will obtain collaborative financial support by engaging community stakeholders and others (e.g., supplemental salary from boards and community agencies, grants from public and private foundations). Priority is given to public higher education institutions that seek to develop self-sustaining and enduring programs within their colleges and universities. Funded entities must agree upon specific outcomes expectations.

The OhioMHAS Residency and Training Program was established in 1988 by Ohio Revised Code (Section 5119.11) and continues to be supported by Ohio Revised Code 5119.186. The statute gives OhioMHAS the authority to provide supporting funds to training programs of behavioral health professionals to serve adults and children in Ohio’s community and public behavioral health system.