The Department of Health Care Services’ (DHCS) Community Services Division awarded $17,653,585.00 in Round 2 funding for the Mentored Internship Program to 39 behavioral health (BH) organizations throughout California.

The 39 Round 2 grantees join the 121 Round 1 grantees that will continue to be funded for Round 2, for a total of 160 Mentored Internship Program grantees across the state. These programs will provide mentored and paid internships for more than 1,000 BH interns, ranging from students in alternative high school to doctoral programs.

This unique model helps support the development of critically needed BH mentors in our service providers, while building BH champions at the educational partner institutions that send interns, and builds a pipeline for students to enter the BH field with knowledge, skills, and employment offers after their internships.

• Mentored Internship Program Rounds 1 and 2, are a project of the DHCS Behavioral Health Workforce Development initiative to support and expand the statewide BH workforce in California.
• Mentored Internship Program Round 2 is funded through Opioid Settlement Funds. As such, the Mentored Internship Program will have a special focus on supporting prevention, treatment, and recovery from opioid use disorder to ensure that all BH providers are able to more wholistically address the opioid epidemic in California.
• Advocates for Human Potential, Inc., (AHP) serves as the administrative entity on behalf of DHCS to administer, supervise, and provide training and technical assistance to selected BH organizations as grantees in the Mentored Internship Program.

 

The full list of Mentored Internship Program grantee organizations, cities and counties, and funding amounts for Rounds 1 and 2 are below.

Mentored Internship Program Round 1 grantees were awarded nearly $50 million from American Rescue Plan funding for the 18-month grant period from April 1, 2022, through September 30, 2023. As of October 2023, most of these grantees will continue in Round 2, with more than $34 million in Opioid Settlement Funds.

Mentored Internship Program, Round 1 Awards

Below is the list of Mentored Internship Program Round 2 grantees, and their 20-month period of performance is from May 1, 2023, through December 31, 2024, with funding totaling nearly $18 million.

Mentored Internship Program, Round 2 Award

• DHCS awarded a total of $51.113 million in Opioid Settlement Funds for the more than 160 Mentored Internship Program Round 2 grantees, with a grand total of nearly $100 million for Mentored Internship Program Rounds 1 and 2.