Patricia Benitez found that little leadership development exists for those working in the mental health administrative space. Even graduate-level courses at universities often lack that type of focus.
That’s one of the reasons the licensed clinical social worker at Fort Worth ISD finds the Mental Health Connection of Tarrant County’s recent certificate program so valuable.
“I don’t even know how to put it into words,” Benitez said. “We need people who have an established history of doing great supervision to teach us so that we can be better supervisors and have better outcomes with our families, us and our students.”
Benitez is one of 19 people selected to participate in Mental Health Connection’s leadership certificate pilot program. The 12-session training teaches skills to chief social workers and mental health professionals that better equip them to direct and serve clients, while maintaining the well-being of themselves and employees.
The courses cover effective supervision, clinical leadership in crisis situations, health equity and the best clinical-quality improvements to implement.
Christina Judge, executive director of Mental Health Connection, said the work to create the pilot program began in 2023. The process included feedback from 60 mental health professionals and coalition members over the span of two years.
“It has been a long time coming,” she added.
Mental health professionals had been calling for this kind of framework. Boisey Bristo, a licensed professional counselor and certified brain injury specialist, runs his own private telehealth practice. The resource is a welcome support system for him and his colleagues.
“The work we do is often so client-centered. But we are a part of a much larger healthcare system,” Bristo said. “This allows us to develop those tools that expand outside of the therapy room.”
Both Bristo and Benitez are licensed in their work — Bristo for counseling and Benitez for social work — but Judge said some of the 19 pilot program members are not. The goal is to have the subject matter support everyone within the clinical mental health space.
The goal is to complete the pilot program in February and offer it publicly in summer 2027.
The certificate is the first of its kind nationwide created by local mental health experts outside of the higher education space, Judge said. Those offered at universities, she added, are costly.
“We want to make sure that it’s as affordable as possible for people to go through,” she said.
Trainers for the 12 sessions also have prerecorded the lessons, which allows the certification to be both eligible for American Psychological Association credits and accessible to others outside of the county.
Ismael M. Belkoura is the nonprofit editor for the Fort Worth Report. His position is supported by a grant from North Texas Community Foundation. Contact him at ismael.belkoura@fortworthreport.org.
At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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