The College of Education and Human Services, in partnership with the Western Kentucky Education Co-op, will train mental health professionals for Kentucky school districts with a $3 million grant WKEC received. 

The Partner and Connect Grant will help recruit and train individuals to become counselors and mental health professionals in school districts with a “high need” for counselors. 

Senate Bill 1, passed in 2019, says school districts must have one counselor for every 250 students. 

Some districts in the state have only one counselor for the school, which is considered “high need.” 

Dianne Owen, Consortium for Innovations in Education director, said this grant will be used to recruit students to obtain their master’s degree in school counseling for K-12 schools. 

The grant provides tuition assistance, between 50 to 100%, to qualifying candidates. 

The goal is to help low-income students, students of marginalized groups or students who live in one of the 14 “high need” school districts listed in the grant.

Candidates who are accepted will either obtain their master’s or pursue their school psychologist credentials. They will receive tuition assistance, free training, mileage and childcare cost reimbursement and a potential incentive when completing practicums. 

Samir Patel, chair of the educational studies, leadership and counseling department, said the grant will also address the state’s teaching shortage and promote diversity in the profession, while targeting students from one of the 14 communities in the grant

“The grant will do what it needs to do in order to remove barriers to get students in these areas placement for their clinicals but hopefully [also] getting students from the community to come to Murray State and obtain their graduate degree with us so that they [can] go back home,” Patel said. “And they’re able to be their school counselor or school psychologist of that district.”

Candidates admitted to this program must agree to work in one of 14 districts for three years. 

These districts are Fulton Independent, Fulton County, Hickman County, Carlisle County, Ballard County, Paducah Independent, Mayfield Independent, Livingston County, Lyon County, Crittenden County, Christian County, Caldwell County, Dawson Springs Independent and Union County.

As the recipient of this grant, WKEC will work with a federal coordinator to ensure the grant’s usage follows the Kentucky Department of Education’s guidelines and the group meets the outcomes provided by the grant.  

The grant requires an Institute of Higher Learning Partner, which will be the College of Education and Human Services. The college will provide services to the candidates and is the credentialing agent for the master’s programs. 

The college will also work with the WKEC to provide incentives in the program while overseeing the practicums and internships.

School districts will identify potential candidates for their counseling programs, and the department will begin outreach to encourage students to apply. 

Owen said there will be an application process to determine needs and eligibility that fit the Kentucky Department of Education’s intent of the grant. 

Once admitted, students will be enrolled in a series of hybrid classes geared towards educating them on issues students may face and how to handle them. 

Students must meet accreditation standards and requirements in order to receive their full certification.

Candidates are encouraged to contact Patel at [email protected] to apply or learn more about the program.

Patel said it’s extremely important all applicants have passed all credentials before entering the field. 

“We won’t allow folks to cross that threshold who we don’t feel that we could put our stamp of approval on, so the trend that they get in our program is rigorous,” Patel said. “It meets the standards that not only that we have set but our accrediting accreditors have said.”

Patel said he is excited about the possibility of the grant diversifying the profession. 

“Diversifying our student body, diversifying our profession and then in the long run, thinking about how kids who may not see themselves in occupations because they don’t have anybody that looks like them in those occupations a lot,” Patel said. “If we have more diversity in all of our professions, then that’s better for us as a community and better for us as a society.”

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