Mapping Our Impact: Training the Mental Health Workforce Where It’s Needed Most
Written by: Tanner Telford
Mapping Our Impact: Training the Mental Health Workforce Where It’s Needed Most
Written by: Tanner Telford
Our mission to get providers to the people
Key points:
- Training programs are helping patients get care sooner in high need communities.
- Local training strengthens long term support for patients who need it most.
IMPACT: Training psychiatrists in communities with the greatest need is expanding access to care today.
Today, our nation has barely a quarter of the psychiatrists it needs to meet patient demand. This shortfall is staggering, and its human toll is profound.
For many U.S. patients, the weight of this reality doesn’t hit until they’ve already taken the hardest steps—after they’ve overcome their hesitation, made the call, and opened up about their struggles. Instead of being filled with relief and hope, the following moments may be characterized by frustration or confusion as patients learn an appointment won’t come any time soon. They may be left wondering: “Where do I go now?”
As we lead the University of Utah’s efforts to address our nation’s mental health crisis, we look head-on at the provider shortage that remains a significant barrier to care. But training the mental health care workforce of tomorrow is no small task. It requires us to construct education pathways that are as varied as the populations we serve, with curricula and clinical opportunities designed to meet their specific—and often complex—needs.
This year, in support of the university’s goal to provide proactive and personalized pathways to all students, we’ve made bold steps to expand our offerings so our clinicians enter the field equipped with all they need to drive change.
Psychiatry residency
Following medical school, future psychiatrists enter residency—a specialized training program that prepares them to diagnose, treat, and manage a wide variety of mental health conditions. During this time, residents rotate through multiple clinical settings to gain hands-on experience and build a foundation that prepares them for independent psychiatric practice. Year over year, we’ve prioritized adding additional rotation sites that mirror both the interests of our students and the needs of our community.
Psychiatry fellowships
After completing a residency, psychiatrists may choose to pursue fellowship training to develop advanced skills in subspecialty areas like Child and Adolescent Psychiatry or Forensic Psychiatry. These programs equip psychiatrists to address complex struggles faced by specific populations, expanding access to high-quality, specialized care.
Like residents, fellows move through multiple rotation sites throughout their training to refine their clinical expertise, deepen their understanding of systems of care, and strengthen their ability to lead in chosen areas of specialization.
Moab Free Health Clinic
This year, we established our newest rotation site within the Moab Free Health Clinic—a nonprofit health center serving the many uninsured and underinsured Utahns in the area.
In the greater Moab area, a region currently without any licensed psychiatrists, the clinic has traditionally relied on volunteers (typically family and nurse practitioners or physician assistants) to help address mental health care needs. While this is troubling in itself, prior to welcoming our residents, the Moab Free Health Clinic had gone more than two years without any psychiatric volunteers, placing significant strain on the already tenuous network of community mental health resources.
The site’s inaugural residents, Hana Friedman, MD, and Bethany Roberts, MD, have already made a profound impact; within days of their arrival, their schedules were filled. Even more incredible is the fact that their services were not widely advertised. “We were very careful in the ways we promoted everything,” says Kate Jagla, executive director of the Moab Free Health Clinic. “We knew doing so could result in bottlenecking, forcing patients with urgent needs to wait even longer. There’s just such an immense need in this community.”
Through June 2026, Friedman and Roberts will rotate through the Moab Free Health Clinic before new residents step in. The clinic marks the 58th rotation site we’ve established and the 15th rotation site operating in support of rural Utahns specifically.
Addiction Medicine and Addiction Psychiatry fellowships
Ten years ago, a community needs assessment revealed that substance use and addiction were the number one priority in southeast Utah—an area with a low population density but significant rates of opioid dependence.
The University of Utah quickly formed an affiliate partnership with providers in the region to address this issue, and in 2019, our Addiction Medicine and Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship programs received a US Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Addiction Medicine Fellowship Program grant to expand its offerings.
While the original grant only funded fellowships until 2025, its clear success led to another five-year renewal. By 2030, this program will have trained 35 fellows extensively in rural, tribal, and underserved communities, focusing on prevention, treatment, and recovery of individuals with opioid and other substance use disorders.
Continued HRSA funding requires at least 50% of graduates from the previous two years to be working in rural, tribal, or underserved communities. Our current placement rate is 86%.
"In addition to providing access to care here and now, we hope this program creates permanent resources for these communities by educating passionate clinicians who choose to stay and practice in these communities."
Training for tomorrow
Unfortunately, there’s no quick fix for the nation’s psychiatrist shortage. Even without optional subspecialty training, becoming a psychiatrist is a journey that spans more than a decade. Yet, progress is possible. By creating varied and customizable education pathways today, our university is not only preparing the most versatile generation of mental health professionals— we’re also expanding access to care right now through clinical programs that connect patients with skilled residents and fellow physicians. Each trainee we support today helps close the gap between need and care tomorrow, one patient at a time.
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