Pathways Career Training & Development
Developing Future Mental Health Providers & Leaders
Pathways Initiatives by People Incorporated
People Incorporated is committed to addressing the critical shortage of diverse future mental health providers and leaders through robust staff development programs. These programs support a wide spectrum of learners from those new to mental health through those who have completed their master’s degree.
Pathways development programs for our direct care roles are competency-based, experiential, mentor-supported, and include components such as job shadowing, licensure supervision, internships/fellowships and trainings provided by our own Training Institute. In addition, our in-house leadership development program, Link2Leadership, prepares future leaders for roles from entry-level supervisors to directors.
- Create low-barrier access points for aspiring mental health professionals from under-represented cultures
- Help those who may not be able to pursue a traditional degree program gain training, skills, and paid work experience
- Create recruitment connections with diverse agencies that are working with underrepresented students
- Pathways trainees complete up to 1,800 hours each per year of classroom learning as well as on-the-job experience
- Since its inception, Pathways has graduated 58 trainees in total
- 35% of trainee graduates are current People Incorporated employees
For further information, please email pathways@peopleincorporated.org.
Pathways:
Paid Field Experience
Pathways Practitioner
Recent bachelor’s level graduates can participate as Practitioner Trainees in a Paid Field Experience, which is a nine-month program that includes:
- 6 weeks of intensive training and program shadowing
- 6-7 months of employment as a float practitioner assigned to cover a varying range of shifts
The program begins with six weeks of training and shadowing that serves as an orientation to the programs and introduces skills they will use while working in our float pool – a group of mental health employees that fill staffing gaps that may occur across the agency due to time off, illness, or staff transitions.
Practitioner Trainees will begin working in a wide variety of People Incorporated programming – including:
- Community Residential Services
- Children’s Day Treatment
- Crisis Residential Services
- Customized Living
- Intensive Residential Treatment Services (IRTS)
- Mental Illness and Substance Use Disorder Services (MI/SUD)
Pathways Mental Health Support Specialist (MHSS) Trainee
Anyone who is 18 years of age or older with a high school diploma/GED can participate as a Mental Health Support Specialist (MHSS) in a Paid Field Experience, which is a three-month program that includes:
- 3 months of on-the-job experience working in Adult Foster Care
- 6 weeks of training: including First Aid, CPR, and medication administration
- Overview of mental health diagnosis and symptoms
- Motivational interviewing, de-escalation skills, and person-centered care
- Introduction to boundaries, ethics, risk in work relationships, and trauma
- Cultural competencies and implicit bias
Pathways:
White-McGhee-Sims and Ron & Nancy Reed Scholarship
In 2003, Ron Reed and his wife Nancy established an endowment fund to honor their commitment to St. Paul, family values, and a lifetime of service to communities of color. Ron specifically chose to dedicate the purpose of his fund to bolster the scholarship program for master’s level internships for people of color already established by the White-McGhee-Sims Scholarship Fund, thus strengthening this endowment.
The new name for the fund became the White-McGhee-Sims-Ron, and Nancy Reed Scholarship, held by the Saint Paul Foundation, and has been managed by People Incorporated since 2012 and, since then, has helped twelve students of color reach their professional development goals.