Workforce Education & Training
Addressing the concern, rising to the challenge, meeting the need
Nearly one in six California adults experiences a mental illness of some kind and one in 24 has a serious mental illness. One in three children has an emotional disturbance that limits participation in daily activities. You can read more about California's mental health issue
More concerning is that those who need help coping with a mental disability are in danger of being not served or under served because of a shortage of mental health professionals - a shortage that is projected to worsen. You can read more about California's mental health professional shortage
Sterling Solutions programs and services address this issue by providing mental health workforce education and training for peers in recovery, career contemplating graduates and mental health professionals. Some our programs include
WRAP
Workforce Retention And Promotion
Sponsored by the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, the WRAP Project is a mentorship program that provides career pathway services for individuals working, volunteering or seeking to work or volunteer in the public mental health system.
WRAP mentors match, link and assist participants with access to enrollment in and completion of educational and training resources.
WRAP workshops offer professional development services such as Mental Health First Aid and Peer career pathway services.
MORE
Mental Health Occupations for Rural Employment
The MORE project is a public mental/behavioral health career pipeline project sponsored by the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development that aims to increase rural behavioral health workforce capacity in San Bernardino County by engaging young adults ages 18-24 and others from unserved, underserved and inappropriately served populations by introducing them to mental health careers, mental health first aid training, mental health career shadowing and internship and/or volunteer placement at a mental health agency or community based agency serving behavioral/mental health consumers.
RESPITE
Residential Peer Internship Term
The project trains mental health consumers in recovery to be service providers in community residential facilities that house adults and older adults with mental health challenges. The purpose is to increase quality of care and expedite client recovery and wellness.
A focus on supportive housing programs for mental health consumers has created opportunities for increased entry-level peer employment. Round-the-clock staffing requirements that are mandated by many county programs can be a struggle for facility operators. Training and deployment of residential peer specialists (RPS) can meet the need for qualified staff and provide meaningful employment for adult and older adult mental health peers.
Training is based on the core competencies for peer workers identified by SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) as those that should guide the delivery and best practice in developing peer worker training and continued competency.
BeHOPE
Behavioral Health Outreach Peer Engagement
The Behvavioral Health Outreach Peer Engagement (BeHOPE) project purposes to:
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Provide low-income, lived experience and re-entry mental health peers with work experience and job skills by training and deployment as community outreach workers;
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Use peer outreach service to supplement and increase engagement in behavioral health services and supports;
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Employ peers to increase public knowledge of mental health crisis prevention, planning, intervention, management.
