Webster Receives $2.4 Million Grant to Support Counseling Students

Webster University was approved for a $2.4 million federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Behavioral Health Workforce Education & Training (BHWET) grant that will offer tuition stipends and enhanced clinical opportunities for professional counseling students. The grant, which was announced last week, will be allocated over the next four years.

The grant will be used to extend the work of the Webster Institute for Clinical Scholarship (WICS) that is aimed at addressing critical shortage of qualified professionals as well as service gaps in the field of mental and behavioral health within the greater Saint Louis region. WICS focuses on enhancing the preparation of master’s level counseling students to serve underserved children, adolescents, and youth who have experienced trauma or face marginalization due to various factors, including race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, and sexual orientation.

“This is great news. WICS offers a rich training experience that ensures our graduates are well prepared to work with diverse client populations,” said Professor Muthoni Musangali, chair of the Professional Counseling Department and the principal investigator for the grant. “WICS has partnered with more than a dozen organizations in in the St. Louis community to expand access to mental health services, helping address an urgent need and making our community a better place for all.”

The funding will be used to:

• Focus on supporting counselors to work with underserved children, adolescents, and youth affected by trauma and marginalization.
• Integrate an ACEs-informed ecological counseling model into the curriculum to prepare culturally competent clinical mental health counselors.
• Issue stipends of $25,000 for WICS scholars to mitigate financial barriers while completing their field experience. 
• Promote mental health support, including community-building among students and regular check-ins with program faculty advisors. 
• Continue recruitment of diverse students into the Clinical Mental Health Counseling (CMHC) program to serve high-need populations.
• Enhance interdisciplinary learning opportunities and professional development for clinical supervisors and members of the community.
• Build on existing infrastructure to further address the ongoing gaps for children, adolescents and young adults in medically underserved communities and populations of St. Louis. 
• Launch a Clinical Supervisor Academy (CSA) aimed at training culturally competent clinical supervisors to better support counseling interns.
• Work with licensing agencies to incorporate cultural competency into clinical supervision training, certification, and renewal. The CSA will create a pipeline of culturally competent clinical supervisors and mentors for newly graduated CMHCs and build capacity for internship site workforce.  

Webster originally received a $1 million BHWET grant in 2021 to work with county health officials and other local partners to improve access to mental health in the region. This opportunity led to the creation of the Webster Institute for Clinical Scholarship (WICS), with Musangali as Principal Investigator, and Associate Professor Hasmik Chakaryan and Assistant Professor Claire Martin as co-principal investigators for the grant.

The new grant award will broaden the scope of the current project, with Musangali, Chakaryan, and Martin continuing as principal and co-principal investigators. They will be joined by Professor Hemla Singaravelu, Associate Professor Melissa Spriggs, and Assistant Professor Ericka Cables.  

To learn more about WICS and the partnerships in the community, visit the Webster Institute for Clinical Scholarship.