The School of Social Work at the University of Nevada, Reno will be better able to address the shortage of behavioral health services for youth with its recent selection to receive a federal grant of more than $1.3 million. The grant is designed to expand the number of social workers qualified to practice in the area of behavioral health with children and transitional age youth (those between 15-21 years of age).

The grant, granted to the University over a three-year period beginning in September 2014, was awarded from the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

It will provide up to $10,000 in individual stipends to approximately 15 students this year, with the goal to increase to 40 students, who are in the master's degree program in social work and are placed for field internships in agencies dealing with children and transitional age youth. The grant will also help the School of Social Work and the Center for the Application of Substance Abuse Technologies at the University to develop an inter-professional certificate in Behavioral Health with Transitional Age Youth.

"We are very excited at receiving this grant and we are happy that this will help many of our students pursuing a master's degree in social work," said Goutham Menon, Ph.D., director of the School of Social Work, who is also the principle investigator on the grant.

"We encourage those with a Bachelor's in Social Work degree who are interested in working with this age group to apply to the Master's in Social Work program at the University."

Co-investigators include Jill Manit, MSW; Maureen Rubin, Ph.D. and Denise Montcalm, Ph.D., all with the School of Social Work and Nancy Roget, director of the Center for the Application of Substance Abuse Technologies.