Nearly 3 million Arizonans live in communities that don’t have sufficient mental health professionals. To bridge this gap, the state will need to add over 2,400 behavioral health professionals by 2030. Recognizing this critical issue, the Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD) and the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) are working together to improve behavioral health workforce shortages through an innovative partnership.
With $7.3 million in funding from AHCCCS, this collaboration drives initiatives to expand access to behavioral health resources and services, empower students with educational opportunities, and foster professional development for current workforce members.
“When MCCCD was approached two years ago by AHCCCS to lead the project in such a short time frame, we knew it was going to be a difficult task, but we also knew the impact these projects would have on students, the Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS), overall healthcare community would be significant and would outweigh any challenges we face,” said Rochelle Rivas, MCCCD director of the Healthcare Education Department. “The project demonstrated that MCCCD continues to lead and is at the forefront of workforce development training. We are committed to working with our industry partners to bridge employment gaps, remove barriers for students, and be a part of the solution to help create access to healthcare.”
Scholarships and Tuition Assistance Empowering the Next Generation
To make educational opportunities accessible to the next generation of behavioral health professionals, $2.8 million was allocated to scholarships and tuition assistance. These scholarships have supported 719 students across five of the 10 Maricopa Community Colleges:
- Glendale Community College (GCC) – $629,344.31
- Mesa Community College (MCC) – $205,439
- Phoenix College (PC) – $287,354.30
- Rio Salado College (RSC) – $413,572.65
- South Mountain Community College (SMCC) – $1,295,721.
“Receiving a behavioral health scholarship helped me tremendously,” said Adriana Sotelo, a student at SMCC. “Being given the opportunity to obtain some financial support gave me the chance to pick up where I left off. Working toward my education, learning and growing are my top goals; this wouldn’t be possible without supporting resources like this scholarship.”
The AHCCCS scholarships provide students with a financial lifeline to build new careers and cover tuition, fees, books and other costs, allowing them to focus on their studies. To ensure a growing workforce that directly impacts local communities, scholarship recipients are required to work at an approved provider for a minimum of two years.
“I really love working as a Behavioral Health Technician at my current job,” said Anita Jacquette, a behavioral health student at SMCC. “This education is going to help me to do better work with the population that I’m working with, which is substance abuse.”
Curriculum Designed to Meet Arizona’s Needs
Furthermore, the AHCCCS funding allowed MCCCD to create tailored educational offerings. By addressing gaps in education and workforce alignment, MCCCD expanded its behavioral health programs, recruited additional faculty and staff, and launched impactful outreach campaigns.
Program highlights include:
- Behavioral Sciences Bachelor’s Degree – Over 1,159 students are pursuing a bachelor’s degree in behavioral sciences.
- Transfer Pathways – A partnership with Northland Pioneer College (NPC) allows students to easily transfer 90 credits from an Associate in Applied Science in Behavioral Health Sciences directly into the bachelor’s degree program at SMCC.
- Certificates of Completion –The Certificate of Completion Foundations of Behavioral Sciences is now available at GCC, PC, RSC, and SMCC. Additionally, MCC has launched a new Certificate of Completion in Applied Behavioral Sciences, which prepares psychiatric technicians with a combination of nursing and behavioral science skills.
- Fast Track Microcredentials – 30 new microcredentials in areas like Psychology and Social Work are helping professionals advance their careers or reenter the workforce quickly. Over 250 microcredentials were awarded by the end of Fall 2024 semester.
Professional Development for Long-Term-Impact
Beyond benefiting students, the partnership extends support to current behavioral health professionals. With an additional $500,000 in funding from AHCCCS, MCCCD and NPC were charged to develop the statewide Healthy Practices Program to address the needs of higher education and Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS).
With a focus on expanding professional development programs, 13 workshops were designed to enhance skills in managing mental health crises and building supportive environments. These workshops were attended by 248 college faculty, staff, and HCBS providers and were tailored around best practices and current trends in behavioral health. Equipping educators and behavioral health providers with the expertise to handle mental health crises, the workshops promote resilience and foster a supportive environment. With the funding, the workshops were expanded to other community colleges and HCBS providers statewide with a “train the trainer” component to ensure the long-term sustainability of the training. The topics for these workshops included:
- Compassion-Based Leadership;
- Trauma-Sensitive Focused Education;
- Professional Resilience and Well-Being;
- Wellness and Success Coaching;
- Train the Trainer Mental Health First Aid (MHFA);
- MHFA - First Aider; and
- Nonviolent Crisis Intervention Train the Trainer.
Learn more about how MCCCD works with industry leaders and educational institutions, like AHCCCS and NPC, to create innovative solutions to address our state’s behavioral health workforce needs at maricopa.edu/industry/behavioral-health.