Tulsa Health Department (THD)

PROJECT PURPOSE

Purpose: to address growing mental health needs among families living in poverty coming out of the pandemic by bolstering the pipeline of diverse social workers and therapists within THD programs. The proposal will focus on recruitment and retention of qualified professionals who reflect the racial, ethnic and language demographics of communities served. The proposal builds on existing partnerships with community based non-profit and higher education organizations to expand and deepen services. Oklahoma is not producing enough therapists and social workers, based on the demand. Oklahoma is not producing enough social workers and therapists that are people of color or bi-lingual, particularly in Spanish. More specific to THD, the agency is competing against private industry. The salary that THD can offer these professionals is typically not comparable to what they can receive working for private industry. Even if THD had the funding to hire them at a higher rate, to be equitable, THD would have to identify funding to increase the salaries of existing therapists, social workers and family advocates/navigators. Building on existing collaborative networks of education institutions and providers of all sizes, this project allows THD to both hire licensed professionals within the BIPOC community and establish and manage scholarship, loan forgiveness, and other incentive programs to ensure a demographically and linguistically diverse workforce pipeline is developed and able to elevate credentials to better serve vulnerable and underserved populations.

EVIDENCE

THD serves populations that are historically underserved and were disproportionately impacted by COVID. The behavioral health impacts to these communities is even further exacerbated by the shortage of BIPOC and bilingual professionals in the industry. Research has shown that early interventions by relatable professionals is most effective, as seen on the attached compilation of research (Annotated Index of Early Childhood Research)

POPULATION DESCRIPTION

Research has shown that communities of color and low-income communities have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Throughout Tulsa County, these communities faced increased unemployment, challenges to providing care and facilitating the education of their children, and were more likely to have to work in high-risk environments. Also, these communities face additional barriers to accessing adequate healthcare (both physical and mental) resources, which were exacerbated by the increased pressures placed on these resources in the midst of a global pandemic. All of these factors have culminated in a need for more access to therapists and social workers for disproportionately impacted communities.

PERFORMANCE MEASURING

1. Process measures focused on the establishment of partnerships with higher education, convening of smaller community based mental health providers and additional planning to align programming across THD as well as with community based organizations and other collaborators 2. Output measures based on planning phase: Number of BIPOC and bilingual students recruited, supported, and placed in a THD program; manageable caseload of professionals; number of families, parents/caregivers and children reached; number of loans forgiven, amount of funds spent on loan forgiveness, amount of funds spent on scholarships, number of scholarships given 3. Qualitative feedback in the form of surveys and other measures from students participating in the incentive programs and from THD clients on how newly hired staff are impacting the programmatic experience and outcomes for clients. 4. Outcome measures TBD (in planning phase), such as: THD staff better understand the mental health needs of diverse, BIPOC, and immigrant populations in the community; THD professionals have all appropriate credentials for their positions; increased awareness by THD staff about mental health disparities and determinants of health in BIPOC and immigrant communities; BIPOC and immigrant communities are knowledgeable about and aware of THD mental and behavioral health programs that they can participate in

ONGOING INVESTMENT AMOUNT

$

ONGOING INVESTMENT DESCRIPTION

None

ONGOING INVESTMENT REQUIRED

Able to continue operation without additional funding from the State of Oklahoma