Michigan could soon be home to more mental health prepared health care providers in underrepresented areas, thanks to two large grants totaling almost $3 million.

A $1.6 million grant from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services will help the Michigan State University College of Nursing train mental health-prepared nurses to serve underserved populations across the state. And a five-year, $1.3 million National Institutes of Health grant will focus on increasing the number of nurses and medical doctors from Michigan’s underrepresented communities trained in substance use disorders through leading-edge research and clinical activities.

“It is reassuring to see both state and federal leaders recognize the importance of having health care providers who are trained in mental health,” said Leigh Small, interim dean of the MSU College of Nursing. “These are investments in our health care system that will result in positive patient outcomes across our state, especially in underrepresented areas.”

The funding, from the MDHHS, will be applied toward the MSU College of Nursing's Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner program and is strictly for measurable recruitment and retention outcomes to increase PMHNPs in the state of Michigan.

According to PMHNP Program Director Dawn Goldstein, who is also principal investigator of the MDHHS grant, the funding will assist with target recruitment efforts of registered nurses or existing advanced practice RNs interested in applying to the PMHNP program at either the master’s, doctoral or postgraduate certificate levels. Newly recruited students who receive stipends must commit to meeting the critical mental health and substance use disorders in Michigan's medically underserved populations.

Meanwhile, the $1.3 million NIH grant is led by researchers with the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine and College of Nursing. It will go toward the initiative, “Increasing Minority Physician and APRN Clinician Scientist Research Training to Equalize Addiction Medicine (IMPACT TEAM).”

For the full story, visit nursing.msu.edu