A New Pathway for Mental Health Professionals

As behavioral health shortages grow nationwide, George Mason is training students to bring evidence-based, culturally responsive care to the communities that need it most. 

When Gracie Pak, MSW ’26, sat down with clients at the Inova Cares for Women and Children clinics, she quickly learned that healing begins with trust. 

Some of her conversations with young patients required translators. Others required patience, cultural sensitivity, and the ability to listen carefully for what was left unsaid. 

“Therapy is an extremely vulnerable experience, and there’s a lot of open communication involved,” Pak says. “It’s very difficult for a lot of people to be honest, especially if they come from a cultural background where therapy is stigmatized.” 

For Pak, who completed her master of social work degree at George Mason University in May, those moments became some of the most meaningful parts of her fellowship experience. Pak was part of a training program designed to address one of the country’s most urgent public health needs: the shortage of behavioral health professionals serving children, adolescents, and young adults. 

George Mason’s Interprofessional Behavioral Health Training Program for Youth Serving Professionals, funded through a four-year grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration, prepares graduate students to work in communities where mental health services are often hardest to access. Through clinical placements, interdisciplinary training, and community partnerships, the program is building a pathway for professionals who are equipped to meet the growing demand for youth behavioral health care. 

That demand is staggering. Nationwide, there is roughly one mental health provider for every 340 people in need, according to Mental Health America. In Virginia, the ratio is even higher. 

“This grant opportunity was a perfect fit,” says Christy Esposito-Smythers, director of George Mason’s Center for Evidence-Based Behavioral Health (CEBBH) and the program’s principal investigator. “Our center is dedicated to increasing access to evidence-based behavioral health care in community settings through research as well as behavioral health workforce training and consultation for emerging and licensed behavioral health professionals.” 

In addition to CEBBH, the program brings together multiple George Mason academic units and centers, including the Center for Community Mental Health in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Center for Health Workforce in the College of Public Health, led by Robyn Mehlenbeck and Caroline Sutter, MSN ’01, DNP ’12, respectively, who are also co-investigators.  

To further improve outcomes, this program also draws on the expertise of community leaders working to strengthen the interdisciplinary behavioral health workforce and improve access to care through such organizations as the Virginia Mental Health Access Program, the Virginia Health Workforce Development Authority, Claude Moore Opportunities, and the Inova Kellar Center. 

The program’s design reflects a broader shift happening across health care, one that emphasizes integrated, collaborative models of treatment. Students in George Mason’s clinical psychology, nursing, and social work degree programs train together, mirroring the team-based environments they will enter after graduation.  

Each year, 10 fellows like Pak complete supervised practicum experiences within partnering primary care clinics, including Inova Cares for Women and Children, the university’s Mason and Partners (MAP) Clinics, Capital Area Pediatrics, Fairfax Pediatric Associates, and the Pediatric Group, among others. 

“[When choosing fellows] we look closely at who the applicants want to serve,” says Debora Goldberg, associate professor in the Department of Health Administration and Policy and co-principal investigator. “Their goals and prior experiences help us place them in primary care settings where they can grow and make the greatest impact.” 

In addition to advanced training, fellows receive a stipend, which may come with tuition support, to help remove financial barriers to participation. They may also earn micro- and macro-badges recognizing demonstrated competencies as they transition into the workforce. 

For many students, the experience is transformational both personally and professionally. 

Learning to Meet Patients Where They Are 

Pak arrived at the training program with years of experience working with children. She volunteered in classrooms, worked as a substitute teacher, and even gave horseback riding lessons—an experience that sparked her interest in equine-assisted psychotherapy. 

Still, she says the fellowship fundamentally expanded her understanding of adolescent mental health. “This experience brought a whole new perspective for me on a much broader level and the challenges that [teens] go through,” Pak says. “A lot of their situations force them to live in survival mode and grow up faster than they should have to.” 

Just as valuable as the clinical training was the interprofessional collaboration. “Being in the fellowship with diverse medical personnel was really beneficial for learning how to communicate with one another,” Pak says. “Social work is very unique, so figuring out how to work alongside other medical personnel was essential.” 

That collaborative spirit is central to the program’s design. Fellows don’t simply study behavioral health in isolation; they learn how psychologists, nurses, social workers, and physicians work together to support patients and families navigating complex emotional and medical challenges. 

Pak is carrying those lessons into her new role as a child and adolescent behavioral health therapist with Healthy Minds Therapy. “I am taking everything I’ve learned throughout the fellowship and the practicum and applying it to my real-life job as a professional therapist,” she says. 

From Cameroon to Community Care 

For doctoral student Luther Achu Njweipi, MSN ’21, serving as a fellow in the training program strengthened a career already rooted in service. 

Njweipi immigrated to the United States from Cameroon after attending schools in underserved communities, an experience that shaped both his worldview and his approach to health care. Today, as a nurse practitioner, he works as a clinical manager at Caregivers Home Health Services in Northern Virginia, supporting patients and families through hospice and palliative care. 

“I saw a need in my line of work that required some behavioral counseling with families that are going through a difficult time with a loved one in serious condition,” says Njweipi, who is working on a doctor of nursing practice degree at George Mason. 

In hospice care, conversations often center on grief, uncertainty, and loss. The training program helped him develop new tools to guide families through those moments with empathy and clarity. “It is difficult talking to the family about the dying process and about their expectations going forward,” he says. “No matter how many times I’ve gone through this, it impacts me every time.” 

Njweipi’s fellowship placement was at the MAP Clinic in Falls Church, which serves uninsured and economically vulnerable patients across Northern Virginia. There, he witnessed how integrated care models can help close gaps for patients who might otherwise go without services. “I saw close to 10 to 15 people a day in this free clinic that accommodates individuals and families who don’t have any health insurance but are in dire need of health services,” he says. 

The training in motivational interviewing and behavioral health assessment broadened the way he thinks about patient care. “Everybody needs mental health counseling at some point because we all go through crises,” Njweipi says. “I really appreciate that our training focused on services across the board—for different ages, cultures, and illnesses.” 

Now, in addition to earning his doctorate, he hopes to become a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner. 

Paying It Forward 

The training program aligned perfectly with doctoral student and fellow Irene Regalario’s academic and clinical interests. “My focus is at the intersection of mental health and physical health—caregiver health, chronic illness, or chronic health conditions—so this integrated, interdisciplinary component was such a perfect opportunity for me,” says Regalario, BSN ’18, MA Clinical Psychology ’21. 

Working at the MAP Clinic in Manassas Park, Regalario strengthened her patient consultation skills while learning how culturally responsive, evidence-based care can improve outcomes and build trust. “Those [skills] really helped me to build patient rapport, which makes up a good portion of the treatment,” she says. “I loved being able to reassure [my patients] that we’re here to help and protect them and gain that trust and respect in return.” 

As a PhD student in clinical psychology, Regalario says one of the program’s most important lessons has been the value of mentorship and shared learning. Faculty supervisors helped her sharpen her clinical instincts, while at the same time she had the opportunity to mentor undergraduate nursing and social work students at the MAP Clinic.  

“We’re still training and learning, so it helps me figure out if I have any blind spots,” says Regalario. “To be a supervisor and mentor to some of the undergraduates and to be able to give them perspective in behavioral health training has been such an amazing experience.” 

That cycle of mentorship—students learning from clinicians while preparing to guide the next generation themselves—is exactly what the training program hopes to create. 

“A main thing that I’ve learned in this program is how to problem-solve with my peers,” says Regalario, who began a residency at Augusta University in Georgia this fall. “We’re asking what we can learn from each other so that we leave here as better medical professionals to make the greatest impact possible in our fields.” 

At a time when behavioral health systems nationwide are stretched thin, programs like this one for youth-serving professionals are doing more than training future clinicians. They are helping shape a workforce prepared to deliver compassionate, culturally responsive evidence-based care in the communities that need it most. 

“This is really a beautiful academic community partnership that we're developing here,” says Esposito-Smythers. “Consistent with George Mason’s core value of ‘thriving together,’ through collaborative efforts we are increasing access to behavioral health services in primary care settings, which in turn, may improve outcomes for youth and families within entire communities.”