Behavioral Health Service Corps℠ in Massachusetts
Massachusetts
Take a Post-College Gap Year in the Mental Health Field
You don't have to choose between real-world experience and graduate education. The Behavioral Health Service Corps is a year-long, paid service opportunity where students can explore career options while earning graduate credits. Visit our main page for core program details. See below for information about our BHSC-Massachusetts cohort.
Scholarship and Stipend: Funded by Mass General Brigham
Funded by Mass General Brigham, the Center for Workforce Development at William James College is scaling up the BHSC by recruiting, mentoring, and training individuals who belong to groups that are underrepresented in the field of behavioral health. As part of the College's ongoing strategic plan to expand, strengthen, and diversify the behavioral health workforce, the BHSC seeks to recruit new talents into the field and retain providers who are from underrepresented backgrounds, and are committed to serving individuals, families, and groups in historically excluded and underserved communities throughout the state.
The BHSC Scholarship Program is funded by Mass General Brigham—an initiative designed to recruit, mentor, and train individuals who belong to groups that are underrepresented in the field of behavioral health and are committed to working in underserved communities.
Students who successfully complete and graduate from the BHSC are eligible for a $10,000 annual scholarship to defray the costs of tuition and fees when they enroll in a graduate training program at William James College.
To be eligible for the MGB-Funded scholarship, BHSC-Massachusetts graduates must:
- Be admitted to, enroll in, and commence graduate training in a WJC degree program within one year of completing the BHSC-MA Program. Individuals who defer enrollment beyond the one-year eligibility period will not be eligible for the BHSC-MA Alumni Scholarship.
- Have completed a full-time, year-long work placement (i.e., a minimum of 1,600 hours) at an agency that is approved by the BHSC.
- Have received passing grades and earned 6 credits in the two courses offered through the BHSC.
- Have participated in all group supervision and professional development activities offered through the BHSC.
- Have actively engaged in mentorship and career counseling services offered through the BHSC.
- Have received a Certificate of Program Completion following their year-long enrollment in the BHSC program.
Note: BHSC-Massachusetts graduates who complete some, but not all, of the program requirements listed above are not eligible for the scholarship.
Additionally, eligible BHSC-Massachusetts graduates must:
- Demonstrate a commitment to improving access to behavioral health services and supporting individuals, families, and communities with unmet behavioral health needs.
- Express an interest in working with groups and populations that experience barriers to accessing behavioral health care.
- Work and plan to practice in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
- Have a strong commitment to providing behavioral health services in a community health center or at a community-based agency.
Candidates for the Behavioral Health Service Corps℠ MGB-Funded Scholarships Program must fill out an application form and participate in an interview to determine their eligibility for the scholarship. All applications will be reviewed by the staff in the Center for Workforce Development (CWD), and scholarship awards will be determined based on eligibility, program alignment, and available funding.
For more information about the MGB-Funded Scholarships Program or to obtain the link to the application portal, please email workforce@williamjames.edu.
Scholarship Requirements
As a condition of receiving the MGB-Funded scholarship, awardees are expected to participate in professional development and other scholarship-related activities offered through the CWD and other departments at WJC. Awardees are also required to complete surveys, assessments, and other data collection activities that support program evaluation, workforce development initiatives, and continuous quality improvement efforts.
Behavioral Health Agency Partners
William James College’s partnering community agencies include:
- Advocates, Inc.
- Applied Behavior Institute (ABI) of New England
- Autism Cares Partners
- Bierman Autism Centers
- Boston Behavioral Learning Centers
- Brandon Residential Treatment Center, Inc
- Bridge Over Troubled Waters
- Brookline Center for Community Mental Health
- Casa Esperanza
- Child and Family Services
- Child Builders ABA
- Children Services of Roxbury
- Communitas
- Eliot Community Human Services
- HopeWell
- Justice Resource Institute (JRI)
- Key Program, Inc.
- Massachusetts General Brigham
- North Suffolk Community Services
- Northeast Family Services
- Open Sky Community Services
- Pine Street Inn
- Recovery Centers of America
- Seven Hills Foundation
- The Home for Little Wanderers
- UMass Memorial - Harrington Hospital
- Victory Programs, Inc.
- Walden Behavioral Health
- Wayside Youth and Family Support Network
- WORK Inc.
Hear From Our Field Supervisors
Divya has been an exceptional asset to Acute Treatment Services (ATS) from the start of her initial placement. She has gone above and beyond, helping to not only get the ATS CM team up and running in an organized and effective way but, since having clients here on ATS, she has just really excelled in requesting supervision and support, taking constructive feedback and advice, and then demonstrating the feedback as it was evident in her everyday interactions and practices on ATS. I am so excited for her to move on to her [Clinical Psychology] PsyD program and to work in the field as anyone who gets the opportunity to work with her (clients and colleagues alike) will be afforded a student, and eventually a doctor, who looks for the strengths in all in a truly non-judgmental, wholistic, and extremely competent way.”
Angela Dorman, LICSW
Clinical Director, Acute Treatment Services, Community Healthlink.