ASPIN was awarded 2 million dollars over four years from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to expand and enhance behavioral health workforce training across Indiana. This critical funding will support ASPIN’s Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training Program for Paraprofessionals (BPP), advancing the organization’s capacity to prepare Certified Community Health Workers (CCHWs) and/or Certified Community Health Workers/Certified Peer Recovery Support Specialists (CCHW/CPRSS) to meet growing needs across the state; especially in high-need, high-demand, and rural communities.

Through this grant, ASPIN will expand didactic training with a dedicated Youth Mental Health curriculum, including trauma-informed care, and increase hands-on, community-based experiential learning in partnership with organizations across the state. The program will strengthen competencies for working with children, adolescents, and transitional-age youth (TAY) who have experienced trauma and are at risk for behavioral health disorders, including anxiety, depression, and substance use disorder. Each year, 18 scholarships will be awarded for Level I (pre-service) training, resulting in 72 newly trained and certified CHWs or CCHW/CPRSS professionals over the four-year award period. ASPIN aims for at least 35% of Level I completers to advance to Level II (in-service) training, with seven students per year enrolling in ASPIN’s U.S. Department of Labor Registered Apprenticeship Program, totaling 28 apprentices over the funding period. Graduates of the program will be prepared to provide support services to children, adolescents, transitional-age youth, and their families, particularly in underserved and rural areas.

Eligibility Criteria:
Must be at least 18 years old.
Must have at least a high school diploma or equivalency. 
Must be a resident of Indiana.
Must have a personal email address and access to a computer and reliable internet.

How the Program Works:
Below are the components to the BPP certification training.

I. Core CHW Certification: Students will receive 47+ hours of Certified Community Health Worker (CHW) core online training program.

II. Certified Peer Recovery Support Specialist Training: Qualifying students will receive 8+ hours of peer recovery support-related training. Qualified students need to have at least 2 years of recovery from lived experience in substance use and/or co-occurring mental health disorders and agree to take the NAADAC National Certified Peer Recovery Support Specialist test. 

III. Chronic Care: Students will then receive an additional 23+ hours of online chronic conditions-related training and EHR Go electronic health record simulation.

IV. Opioid Treatment Basics: Students will then receive an additional 26+ hours of online addictions-related training. 

V. Opioid Impacted Family Support: Students will then receive an additional 18+ hours of online opioid impacted family support training. 

VI. Youth Mental Health Literacy: Students will then receive an additional 9+ hours of online youth mental health literacy-related training.

VII. Virtual Field Placements: Students will complete 23+ hours of three virtual field placement modules with OR receive job experience credit.

VIII. Experiential Learning: Students will then complete 8-16 hours of in-person field placement with partnering organization as part of an interdisciplinary team, participate in a Cost of Poverty Experience (COPE) training, participate in a Youth Mental Health First Aid Training, and participate in a Rethink Tobacco Introduction to Tobacco & Behavioral Health training. 

IX: Apprenticeship: Qualifying students will enter ASPIN’s US Department of Labor Registered Apprenticeship Program for Certified Community Health Workers. The Project Coordinator will work with the students to seek employment as a CCHW in a high need and high demand area.

For more Information contact:
Keny Chapman, BSBA, CCHW-CT
BPP Program Coordinator
kchapman@aspin.org
ASPIN’s training scholarship application is currently closed. Sign up for our E-Mail List to receive information regarding ASPIN and ASPIN training Here

Affiliated Service Providers of Indiana, Inc. (d.b.a. ASPIN) is a 501 (C) 3 not-for-profit network that operates four major service lines: third party administration, training and workforce development, health improvement, and grants management. The mission of ASPIN is to provide innovative educational programs, workforce development, network management, and collaborative program development with healthcare entities, member organizations, and partners. “Together, we aim to reduce health disparities, strengthen the healthcare workforce, and promote whole health management across communities.”

“This project: ‘the ASPIN Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training Program – Paraprofessional (BPP) is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $2 million with 0% percentage financed with non-governmental sources. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.”