[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 79 (Thursday, April 24, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Page 20015]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-10543]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Minority Fellowship Program
AGENCY: Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), HHS.
ACTION: Notice of planned award for renewal of a clinical training
grant under the Minority Fellowship Program (MFP) to the American
Psychological Association (APA).
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SUMMARY: SAMHSA's CMHS plans to award a renewal MFP grant to the APA
for the clinical training of pre-/post-doctoral level psychology
trainees who plan service careers working with ethnic minority
populations with mental and addictive health disorders. The project
period for the renewal grant is anticipated to be 3 years. The first
year will be funded at approximately $400,000.
This is not a general request for applications. The renewal
clinical training grant will only be made to the APA based on the
receipt of a satisfactory application that is considered to have
sufficient merit by an Initial Review Group and the CMHS National
Advisory Council.
Authority: The award will be made under the authority of section 303
of the Public Health Service (PHS) Act. The authority to administer
this program has been delegated to the Director, CMHS. The Catalog
of Federal Domestic Assistance number for this program is 93.244.
Background
Section 303 of the PHS Act assigns the Director of CMHS certain
responsibility for the clinical training of mental health professionals
including those concerned with the treatment of underserved priority
populations; i.e., adults with serious mental illness; children with
serious emotional disturbance; elderly, ethnic minority and/or rural
populations with mental and addictive disorders. The lack of suitably
trained professionals is considered to be a major cause of the lack of
access for ethnic minority communities to appropriate mental health and
substance abuse services. Accordingly, CMHS has the responsibility for
providing support to facilitate the entry of ethnic minority students
into mental health careers and increase the number of professionals
trained at the doctoral-level to teach, administer, and provide direct
mental health and substance abuse services to ethnic minority
communities.
Over the past several decades, the Federal mental health clinical
training program at CMHS (and previously at the National Institute of
Mental Health [NIMH]) has addressed this gap primarily by attempting to
increase the numbers of professionals who wish to dedicate themselves
to serving ethnic minority populations with mental and addictive
disorders.
A renewal application may be submitted only by the APA. This
professional organization has unique access to those students entering
the profession of psychology. The field of psychology has been
nationally recognized for decades as part of the four core mental
health disciplines, along with psychiatry, nursing and social work. The
American Psychiatric Association, the American Nursing Association, and
the Counsel on Social Work Education also have ongoing CMHS MFP grant
support. Psychologists provide part of an essential core of services
for individuals with serious mental illness and also less severe mental
disorders.
The APA is the largest national professional psychologists'
organization in the country. The APA and its affiliates have activities
in all major areas of national policies affecting psychology as a
profession, including education and training.
The APA, along with its affiliates, has direct involvement in
curriculum development, school accreditation, and pre-/post-doctoral
training. The APA has had decades of experience in working directly
with university training programs in its respective field.
Because of the above unique characteristics and long experience,
NIMH, the original funding agency, chose APA as the exclusive
representative for the field of psychology. For over 20 years, the APA
has administered the MFP exceptionally well, recruited excellent
students, assured that all program requirements were satisfied, and
effectively monitored the progress of fellows during and after the
fellowship period. The MFP grantee continues in its unique position to
represent this core mental health discipline and eligibility for
continuation funding has been restricted to it accordingly.
Therefore, because the APA's grant support will end in FY 1997,
CMHS is providing additional support for up to 3 years via a renewal
grant award.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Questions concerning the CMHS MFP may be
directed to Paul Wohlford, Ph.D., Human Resources Planning and
Development Branch, CMHS, Room 15C-18, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville,
Maryland 20857, telephone (301) 443-4257.
Dated: April 18, 1997.
Richard Kopanda,
Executive Officer, SAMHSA.
[FR Doc. 97-10543 Filed 4-23-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4162-20-P
