A Guiding Hand: $1.7M Grant Expands UWG’s Impact on Rural Mental HealthShare this page
A transformative $1.7 million federal grant awarded to the University of West Georgia’s Dr. Carey Crawford is poised to break down economic and geographic barriers for aspiring school counselors while strengthening mental health support in some of the region’s most underserved rural communities.
Over the next four years, the funding – awarded by the Health Resources and Services Administration – will support counseling students through critical hands-on training, incentivize site supervisors and expand the reach of the university's school counseling program into high-need districts across west central Georgia.
Crawford – a new faculty member in the College of Education’s Department of Counseling, Higher Education and Speech-Language Pathology and a first-time grant writer – said her students inspired her to pursue the funding.
“As I got to know them, I grew more impressed with their commitment to doing the hard work required of the helping professions,” said Crawford, an assistant professor. “My goal is to provide the experiences necessary to learn the skills required to do that work, but I also realize there are contextual issues that impact who can complete their graduate studies. I became aware of the ‘non-academic barriers’ that were impacting them, most obviously the financial one.”
The program is designed to allow students to maintain full-time employment while completing their classwork until they reach the practicum phase and must leave paid employment to intern full time at a school. Add in the possible cost of childcare. How many qualified candidates, Crawford wondered, were unable to pursue training due to these barriers?
“At the same time, I was reminded of the increasing need for mental health services among children and adolescents, especially in rural and low-income areas,” she added. “I saw my students preparing to meet those needs, and I knew this grant opportunity would help them do so without asking their families to sacrifice quite as much.”
About 98% of Georgia’s 159 counties are classified as Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs), meaning they lack sufficient primary care, dental or mental health providers, according to the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute and the Cicero Institute. In fact, 148 of the state’s counties are designated as medically underserved areas or populations. The National Alliance on Mental Illness also reported that nearly 5 million people in Georgia live in a community that does not have enough mental health professionals.
“A primary goal of this grant is to reduce this gap by placing school counseling interns in schools located in HPSAs, where they can provide services under the supervision of a certified or licensed counselor,” Crawford explained. “As you might expect, these counselors are already quite busy attempting to meet the needs of their students. By offering incentives, we aim to increase the number of counselors willing to provide supervision to UWG students in these high-need areas, thereby expanding services. Both interns and supervisors will receive financial stipends.”
UWG will also host an annual mini-conference for current and potential site supervisors where it will provide free professional development on supervision and trends in youth counseling.
Crawford added that she’s grateful for the practical nature of this grant, of which nearly all the funding acquired will be allocated directly to students and supervisors to meet an identified need in the state.
“By increasing the number of school counselors, we help to build an infrastructure where mental health and wellness services are provided to all students,” she said. “Exposing students to preventative services in schools can be a cost-effective method to decrease the gap in mental health services in communities overall.”
Dr. Jon Preston, provost and vice president of academic affairs, commended Crawford and the grant’s multifaceted approach to counseling.
“This transformative grant empowers UWG to not only support our students as they prepare to become school counselors but also to uplift entire communities by expanding access to mental health services where they’re needed most,” he concluded. “This work will have a tremendous, lasting impact across rural Georgia.”