Whitworth University Receives $3.3 Million Grant to Establish the School-Based Mental Health Partnership Program (WU-MHPP)
Reneé Schoening, Whitworth’s director of school counseling & social emotional learning graduate programs, applied for the grant and was supported in this outstanding work by Aaron Putzke, associate dean of the College of Arts & Sciences; Program Support Specialist Becky Prior; Ron Jacobson, former dean of the School of Education; and Olivia Dugenet, director of the office of sponsored programs.
“Grants of this magnitude must always involve a strong and diverse work group with all members providing different pieces of a large and complex puzzle,” says Julia Stronks, interim dean of the School of Education. “We are excited that our College of Arts & Sciences is entering into a new partnership with the School of Education to lift up community-oriented programs in this way.”
Schoening says Whitworth’s emphasis is to recruit and equip more students for service in rural schools and schools with high refugee and immigrant populations.
“We’re trying to remove barriers for people living in rural communities to come to campus to participate in the program,” Schoening says. “The grow-your-own model aims to recruit people who are already invested in their communities who want to work as school counselors. We also recognize the need to provide support for schools in the Spokane region with high refugee and immigrant populations. We will place interns very strategically in those schools and work with them to provide the support they need, including professional development in trauma informed practices. We have partnered with Thrive International to provide training in cultural understanding and support for educators working with students who have recently arrived in the U.S.”
Students participating in WU-MHPP will receive financial incentives including scholarships, mileage reimbursement and stipends for field experiences.
The grant will also provide funding for Whitworth to host a summer retreat for educators in the region. Participants will come to Whitworth’s campus to receive training in burnout prevention, secondary trauma mitigation and social emotional learning (SEL) embodiment training. Whitworth has a long history of preparing excellent educators and will now be able to provide a unique renewal experience for those who need it.
Whitworth has partnered with five school districts – Cheney, Mead, East Valley, West Valley and Central Valley – in addition to ESD 101, 123 and 171.
For more information on this program click here.
Whitworth would like to thank McAllister & Quinn Senior Managing Director of Grant Services Marianne Jordan and Michelle Goetsch, grant writing consultant, for their guidance in obtaining this grant.
(Photo: Reneé Schoening, Whitworth’s director of school counseling & social emotional learning graduate programs, and her students who make up the second-year cohort of the school counseling program. Students like these may benefit from the MHPP program. Pictured: (front row) CaraLee Howe, Reneé Schoening, Lindsey Bench (back row) Pam Kidder, Cathy Beadle, Khyndra Tallman, Blake DeWalt, Jack Johnson, Paula Gormon)
About Whitworth University:
Located in Spokane, Wash., Whitworth is a private Christian liberal arts university affiliated with the Presbyterian church. The university, which has an enrollment of about 2,500 students, offers more than 100 undergraduate and graduate degree programs.
Contacts:
Trisha Coder, media relations manager, Whitworth University, (509) 777-4703 or tcoder@whitworth.edu.
