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When Ruth Larson, SUNY ESF’s director of counseling services, attends mental health conferences, the room is homogeneously filled with middle-aged white women, she said.

“Lack of diversity remains a lingering problem in the mental health field, and that deficit only leads to further lack of access and disproportionate care for communities of color,” said Representative Paul Tonko (D-NY). “Investing in and strengthening educational programs are a critical step in building a diverse mental health workforce.”

Governor Kathy Hochul announced in August that 16 SUNY and 18 CUNY systems would receive $4 million in federal funding to support underrepresented students entering or enrolled in mental health programs. The program aims to address the lack of diversity within the counseling industry, which is mostly white and female.

“Having a more diverse workforce means that more students will feel more comfortable,” Larson said. “That would also help with some of the fears because mental health historically has been used or abused against people of color.”

The program will aid “minority and multilingual” students as well as those who are enrolled in a language-specific degree program who are studying in the field of mental health, the release said. The funding will be used for tuition assistance, paid internships and direct stipends.

The state’s Office of Mental Health is partnering with CUNY and SUNY to implement the funding, and will evenly split it between the two systems.

While ESF is a SUNY campus, the college does not have eligible degree programs within the state’s requirements. ESF was unable to confirm if any of its students will be eligible for the program.

Still, the funding would help diversify the pool of candidates that counseling offices, such as ESF’s, choose from, Larson said. Though the university is working to diversify its counseling staff, many of its applicants reflect the mostly-white industry’s demographics.

“If we can start planting the seeds for young people, and specifically students who are diverse (and) speak multiple languages … this is huge,” Larson said.

One of the largest barriers to mental health care for students in marginalized communities is that they don’t have access to someone who understands their background, said Deborah Stanley, the SUNY system’s interim chancellor, in the release.

“This partnership will provide incentives for underrepresented students to enroll or remain in mental health programs – helping diversify our future workforce and ensure that all communities are well-served by our public health care system,” Hochul wrote.

Published on September 7, 2022 at 11:09 pm

Contact Kyle: kschouin@syr.edu | @Kyle_Chouinard