A team of professors, staff members and graduate students participated in writing the grant for the $1 million Rehabilitation Long-Term Training grant including: back row, Bradley Kuhlman, left, Barbara Vesely and Peter Eischens. Front row, Rachel Briant, left, principal investigator Amy Knopf and Carrie Barth. Not pictured: Mary Tacker.
The St. Cloud State University Rehabilitation and Addiction Counseling program has earned a five-year $1 million federal Rehabilitation Long-Term Training grant for training rehabilitation and addiction counselors.
The grant from the Rehabilitation Services Administration’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services of the U.S. Department of Education will provide $200,000 per year for tuition assistance and professional development stipends from 2015-2020. The program is designed to ensure that skilled personnel are available to meet the growing need for highly-qualified scholars who have an expertise in serving consumers with both disabilities and addictions.
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The Rehabilitation and Addiction Counseling program is a new graduate program at St. Cloud State and the grants will be available to the program’s first cohort beginning in October.
The program is one of only two training programs with specialized expertise in Rehabilitation Counseling and Addictions in the United States, and this is the first time a long-term training grant has been awarded to a program that specializes in both rehabilitation and addiction counseling, said Amy Hebert Knopf, principal investigator on the grant and Rehabilitation and Addiction Counseling professor and program coordinator.
“It’s an exciting time to be on the cutting edge of a new and emerging profession,” she said. “I’m proud to be part of an amazing team of colleagues who have a shared vision of recruiting and training new professionals in this field.”
Students receiving the scholarships will work at a public vocational-rehabilitation agency or non-profit community rehabilitation program that operates under contract with the federal-state rehabilitation system after completing the program or pay back the funds at a later date.
Assisting with writing the grant were: co-principal investigator Bradley Kuhlman, co-principal investigator Barbara Vesely, co-principal investigator Mary Tacker, Peter Eischens ’14, grant coordinator Rachel Briant ’15 and Carrie Barth.
“I am very excited about the success of Dr. Knopf and the grant team, said Kimberly Schulze, chair of the Department of Community Psychology, Counseling and Family Therapy. “They have developed a graduate program where there is a high need for skilled professionals and the grant will make a significant impact toward meeting the workforce shortage in rehabilitation and addictions counseling.”
This is the second $1 million grant the Department of Community Psychology, Counseling and Family Therapy has earned in as many years.
The Rehabilitation Counseling program earned a $1 million Rehabilitation Long-Term Training grant from the U.S. Department of Education in 2014.
I would like some specific examples of facilities that would meet the criteria for employment based on receiving this grant.