{"id":12688,"date":"2021-11-01T16:23:30","date_gmt":"2021-11-01T20:23:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/?p=12688"},"modified":"2021-11-17T11:19:08","modified_gmt":"2021-11-17T15:19:08","slug":"umes-student-named-behavioral-health-ambassador","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/umes-student-named-behavioral-health-ambassador\/","title":{"rendered":"UMES student named Behavioral Health Ambassador"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Jessica Collins<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Jessica Collins, a University of Maryland Eastern Shore student pursuing a Master of Science degree in rehabilitation counseling, has been named a Behavioral Health Ambassador by the HBCU Center for Excellence in Behavioral Health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration funds the center housed at Clark Atlanta University.  Collins will be among 25 ambassadors participating in the program during the 2021-22 academic year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services predicts there will be shortages of behavioral health professionals.  The HBCU center aims to promote awareness of and provide support to students pursing degrees in Behavioral Health at Historically Black Colleges and Universities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a behavioral health ambassador, Collins will make presentations exposing undergraduates to careers and issues in behavioral health, develop and deliver presentations to undergraduates at HBCUs and engage in conversations with students considering careers in behavioral health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Behavioral Health Ambassadors also receive a $7,000 stipend and professional development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c<\/em>This is a true privilege,\u201d Collins said about being selected for the ambassador program.  \u201cIt challenges me to continue pushing through to completing my graduate degree and make an impact on a younger generation who have gone through some very difficult times and may feel lost.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy goal as a Behavioral Health Ambassador is to be an inspiration to students who are determining their career direction and expose them to the importance of being in a Behavioral Health career,\u201d she said. \u201cI would like to share the impact of the workers in behavioral health in our new normal. I want to let them know the importance of people of color being reflected in behavioral health systems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWithout us reflected in the field,\u201d Collins said, \u201cour community perspective and personal perspective doesn\u2019t get communicated.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Queens, N.Y. native transferred to UMES from Medgar Evers College in New York, earning her bachelor\u2019s degree in rehabilitation services in 2020. Her field experience included an internship at Anchor House, a faith-based residential drug treatment program in Brooklyn, N.Y., and she currently works as a residential crisis specialist at Go-Getters Lower Shore Clinic.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe is a very detail-oriented person, which is why she is the student editor for the department newsletter “The Rehab Review,” said Dr. William Talley, associate professor and the Department of Rehabilitation Services chairman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe is personable \u2026 a solid communicator and she follows through with her commitments. She is the sort of person who always strives to do a good job,\u201d said Talley on the qualities that will help Collins be successful during her ambassadorship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Collins\u2019 goal is to work in mental health\/ substance use disorders programs for adults to provide effective, quality and individualized care to clients, promote choice and dignity, and become an administrator who develops programming that would impact a larger system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

By Tahja Cropper<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jessica Collins, a University of Maryland Eastern Shore student pursuing a Master of Science degree in rehabilitation counseling, has been named a Behavioral Health Ambassador by the HBCU Center for Excellence in Behavioral Health. The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration funds the center housed at Clark Atlanta University.  Collins will be among…Read more UMES student named Behavioral Health Ambassador<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":12689,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-12688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12688\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12688"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=12688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}