Project Details
Graduate Certificate in Children's Mental Health-Distance Learning
Description
The Department of Child and Family Studies, Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute at USF, in collaboration with its partners through the SOC Professional Training Consortium, began offering the first-ever distance learning Graduate Certificate in Children’s Mental Health in the fall, 2006.
The overarching goal of this initiative is to begin to address the enormous shortage of qualified, appropriately trained professionals in the children’s mental health field by offering educational and professional development opportunities to students and professionals. Faculty from USF and partnering universities throughout the country participating in the Consortium serve as instructors in the program. Based on its success at improving the quality and relevance of education and training in the mental and behavioral health fields, the Graduate Certificate in Children’s Mental Health was selected by The Annapolis Coalition on the Behavioral Health Workforce as one of the Innovative Practices to be highlighted in their Registry of Innovative Practices in 2007.
This interdisciplinary program addresses policy, systemic, and administrative issues related to children’s mental health, and is delivered through distance learning methodologies for two primary audiences—graduate students seeking specialized training in Children’s Mental Health and professionals in need of retooling in order to keep pace with the fundamental changes that have taken place in the children’s mental health field. The Consortium provides an excellent mechanism for interchange among faculty and students. The distance learning delivery system, including web-based knowledge sharing and interaction, extends the Certificate’s reach beyond the boundaries/resources of any one campus, drawing on the strengths of many.