Illustration credit: Kotryna Zukauskaite

A new partnership between Emplify Health by Bellin and Marquette University is aimed at providing better access to mental health care counselors for residents in northeast Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

The Resch Mental Health Initiative is a pilot program that provides fully supported pathways for students from education to licensure to employment. Twenty-five students from the region will earn a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling through the Marquette Graduate School’s online program. They’ll receive supervised training and employment opportunities with Emplify Health by Bellin.

Dr. Alan Burkard, professor of counselor education and counseling psychology, is part of a team from Marquette that’s focused on using the online clinical mental health counseling program to prepare students who live in the area they will serve.

“As part of that training, students are required to complete field placements,” Burkard says. “All the field placements will be with Emplify Health by Bellin, so they will complete a practicum experience, which is 100 hours. Then, they will complete an internship experience, which is 900 hours. To become a licensed professional counselor in the state of Wisconsin, students need to complete 3,000 post-graduation hours while under supervision. These hours will be conducted under the supervision of an Emplify Health licensed staff member who has five years of experience as a licensed professional counselor.”

According to Burkard, over the next five years, northeast Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula will experience a shortage of 300 mental health counselors.

For more detailed information or specific inquiries about the program, please contact The Bellin Health Foundation at TheBellinHealthFoundation@bellin.org.

Interested students may access more information here or contact Graduate Admission Counselor Jordan L. Mason at (414) 288-0327 or jordan.l.mason@marquette.edu.