A caregiver places a reassuring hand over a patient’s hands. (Photo: Hxyume/Getty Images)
After three years of planning, North Carolina officials on Monday launched the Public Service Leadership Program, a five-year effort to expand the state’s social work workforce and address shortages in rural and underserved communities.
The new program, a partnership between the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services and a coalition of 25 universities and colleges across North Carolina, seeks to double the number of social workers serving the state’s most vulnerable populations.
State officials and university leaders said the goal is to train and keep social workers in public service jobs.
By offering to pay off student loans in exchange for a three-year commitment to public service, officials hope to steer graduates away from the private sector and into the state hospitals, child welfare offices, and rural clinics where they are needed most. Currently, less than half of the state’s social workers work in the public mental health system.
The launch coincides with the release of a new report showing major gaps in mental health care across the state. North Carolina has nearly 10,000 licensed clinical social workers, but most practice in urban areas. Urban counties have twice as manyproviders as rural ones, and three counties — Camden, Hyde and Tyrell— have no licensed clinical social workers at all.
“This work is about making sure no matter what county you’re in, you have access to a provider,” said Ramona Denby-Brinson, dean of the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Social Work.
Kelly Crosbie, director of the N.C. Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Use Services, described social workers as the “backbone” of this effort. “Social workers operate across multiple levels of intervention,” Crosbie said. “They advocate for our most marginalized populations, and their work often leads to significant social change.”
The program partners with high schools and community colleges to recruit students early, places graduate students in state jobs before they finish their degrees, and offers peer coaching to reduce early-career turnover. The report shows that more than 60% of licensed social workers are in the profession for less than a decade, a figure that reflects the high turnover rate among younger clinicians.
Supported by a blend of state funds and private backing from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation and Dogwood Health Trust, the program will operate as a “proof of concept” over the next five years. Denby-Brinson said the goal is to show enough success to persuade state lawmakers to sustain the funding long-term.
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