{"id":119893,"date":"2021-05-05T11:08:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-05T15:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=119893"},"modified":"2022-07-28T19:14:45","modified_gmt":"2022-07-28T23:14:45","slug":"1st-cohort-from-ucf-opioid-workforce-expansion-program-graduates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/1st-cohort-from-ucf-opioid-workforce-expansion-program-graduates\/","title":{"rendered":"1st Cohort from UCF Opioid Workforce Expansion Program Graduates"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pamela Duff \u201917<\/strong> always knew she would become a counselor. As she watched people around her struggle with addiction, she realized she wanted to find a career that would allow her to utilize her skills to help people recover from addictions and learn healthier coping skills.<\/p>\n

Duff graduates this May with a master\u2019s degree in clinical mental health counseling<\/a>. She\u2019s one of eight students from the first cohort of the Opioid Workforce Expansion program<\/a>, which launched in August 2020. The programs are part of an umbrella of programs funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration to expand and enhance community-based, hands-on training focused on opioid-use disorder and other substance-use disorders. Graduate students enrolled in the UCF clinical mental health counseling<\/a> and the marriage, couples and family therapy<\/a> programs are eligible to participate.<\/p>\n

In 2017, Florida death rates due to opioids laced with fentanyl and fentanyl analog increased 56% from the previous year, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cNot everybody gets to participate in these grant programs, but I think this experience made me such a better counselor,\u201d says Duff, who earned her bachelor\u2019s in psychology<\/a> at UCF. \u201cThey\u2019re giving you training that they\u2019re paying for. It was great professional development. You get medical training on top of your counseling preparation. It really diversifies what you\u2019re able to do and understand.\u201d<\/p>\n

The goal is to expand the behavioral workforce, specifically within the Central Florida area, where drug overdoses related to opioids are high and the number of mental health professionals with specialized training is low. In 2017, Florida death rates due to opioids laced with fentanyl and fentanyl analog increased 56% from the previous year, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. In Orange County alone, that rate increased by 78%. However, Orange, Seminole, Brevard and Osceola counties are considered \u201cmental health professional shortage areas\u201d by the Department of Health and Human Services.<\/p>\n

\u201cBehavioral health is a difficult field,\u201d says Bryce Hagedorn, a professor of counselor education and co-principal investigator of the UCF-Aspire Counselor Training programs<\/a> in the Integrated Care for Opioid and Other Substance Use Disorders grant. \u201cOne of the problems with the field of community mental health, which often serves the un- or underinsured, is it\u2019s common to have the people who are most in crisis being served by those with the least experience, which is generally interns. What sometimes happens is once people get licensed, they move out of this field and into private practice. The Opioid Workforce Expansion program is designed to help equip, train and incentivize clinicians to stay in the community mental health field so that they are prepared to address the multiple concerns of a high-needs population.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students who participate in the opioid and addiction-focused program spend two semesters completing paid internships at inpatient, outpatient and residential addiction-based centers. The program provides students with the extensive training and faculty support needed to learn about prevention, treatment and recovery services for individuals, including children and adolescents, who have opioid use disorder and other substance use disorders. Over the next three years, an additional 22 UCF graduate students will receive specialized training within this workforce expansion program.<\/p>\n

\u201cOpioid-related overdose rates have skyrocketed during the pandemic, so this training is more important than ever.\u201d \u2014 Dayle Jones, associate professor of counselor education<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cAddictions, particularly related to the opioid epidemic, are extremely prevalent in the mental health field today,\u201d says Dayle Jones, associate professor of counselor education and co-principal investigator on the grant. \u201cOpioid-related overdose rates have skyrocketed during the pandemic, so this training is more important than ever. Having this experience in addictions treatment settings will be very helpful for the students\u2019 career preparation as mental health counselors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duff completed her internship at an outpatient medication-assisted treatment facility. People who are struggling with opioid addiction come to receive doses of medication to help them with their cravings. Florida requires that individuals who seek treatment at dosing clinics pair their medication with counseling, which is where Duff came in. She had sessions with clients, co-facilitated a group therapy session three times a week and participated in drug court, where clients undergo a treatment plan with strict guidelines to expunge their illegal activity rather than serve time in jail.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe counseling program prepared me for running groups,\u201d says Duff. \u201cWe were taught the principles of how to get people to talk and how to get people to do therapeutic work together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through her internship, Duff was able to learn the different types of medication used to treat opioid and other substance addictions. She learned the dosages and how they interact with a person\u2019s mental health.<\/p>\n

\u201cAddiction counseling is a very difficult environment,\u201d says Duff. \u201cYou have to build rapport with clients who are sometimes ambivalent about treatment and recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n

She embraced the challenge of connecting with her clients and will be taking all that she learned to her job as an addictions counselor at an outpatient medication-assisted treatment facility in North Carolina.<\/p>\n