A partnership between OneQuest Health and Northern Kentucky University has secured $100,000 in funding to create scholarships aimed at addressing the critical shortage of mental healthcare professionals in Kentucky.
The funding, awarded through the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education’s (CPE) Healthcare Workforce Investment Fund (HWIF), will directly support students in NKU’s Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling program.
The partnership, which was awarded its full request of a $50,000 match from the HWIF (totaling $100,000 with the healthcare partner’s contribution), is a distinctive effort to directly funnel talent into a high-need area of the healthcare sector.
Since the inception of HWIF, OneQuest Health has leveraged a total of $300,000 in funding specifically addressing mental healthcare workforce development in the region.
“We see this partnership with Northern Kentucky University as a game-changer,” said Rick Wurth, OneQuest Health CEO. “It’s incredibly important and truly distinctive for a provider like OneQuest Health to be collaborating directly with a state university to tackle the critical workforce shortages we face in mental healthcare. We are proud to be leading this effort for the Commonwealth.”
he scholarship program is a direct response to the legislative intent of the HWIF, which is focused on growing the state’s healthcare workforce.
“This partnership ensures that more qualified, compassionate mental healthcare workers can enter the field at a time when demand has never been greater,” said Dr. Gannon Tagher, dean of NKU’s College of Health and Human Services. “We are incredibly grateful for this continued investment in our students and in Kentucky’s mental health workforce.”
The partnership will be formally recognized at the HWIF Awards Program on December 9 during the Healthcare Workforce Collaboratory in Lexington. Further details regarding contract implementation and budget will be discussed with CPE in the coming weeks.