Grants
Psychiatric Education Expansion Grant Program $8 Million in State Funding
Loan Forgiveness for Nurse Faculty Members
Western University of Health Sciences (WesternU) introduced a program in October 2021 that provides vital training to nurse practitioners and physician assistants as they transition from graduates to expert primary care clinicians, with an emphasis on providing substance abuse prevention and treatment in underserved areas.
WesternU’s College of Graduate Nursing and College of Health Sciences received a $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to create the WesternU Integrated Substance Abuse Training Program (WISTP). WISTP is designed as a one-year, limited employment, transition-to-practice training program for nationally-certified nurse practitioners and PAs. Eligible applicants are those less than 18 months out of the basic education program. The training program begins every October 1.
The aim of WISTP is to plan, develop, and operationalize a 12-month full-time post-graduate program designed to foster clinical training and augment expertise among practicing NPs and PAs to expand the number of practitioners trained to provide mental health, substance use disorders/opioid use disorders (SUD/OUD) prevention, treatment, and recovery services in community-based underserved primary care settings.
WesternU received a Health Resources and Services Administration $1.875 million, 4-year award (2021-2025) to create the region’s first Behavioral Health Training Center. The Behavioral Health Training Center offers state of the art training for CGN’s students in the MSN E program, the FNP program, and the PMHNP Program. This award also stipends up to 10 students per year to obtain their PMHNP degree.
Past Grants
The Advanced Practice Healthcare Scholarship Program is a scholarship where eligible applicants may receive a scholarship of up to $25,000 for one year of their educational program in exchange for a 12-month service obligation and providing direct patient care in a qualified facility in California upon graduating.
In Fall of 2022, the Health Resources and Services Administration awarded the Western University of Health Sciences College of Graduate Nursing (CGN) a federal grant to create and deliver WesternU Faculty Academy for Region 9 (WU-FAR9), a formal nurse education training curriculum used to train clinical nursing faculty and preceptors. CGN partnered with the Benner Institute at HealthImpact, Inc. and San Antonio Regional Hospital (Upland, CA) to provide the Benner Institute Clinical Faculty and Educator Certificate Program for FREE across Public Health Region 9. The WU-FAR9 will run from 2023 through 2026.
WesternU received $450,000 from SAMSHA in October 2021 to enhance nurse practitioner students’ knowledge of substance abuse screening and early intervention. Through this 3-year grant, CGN expects to educate more than 175 nurse practitioner students in recognizing substance abuse disorders. Through such education, the students will be able to create a treatment plan.
In August, 2021, the WesternU College of Graduate Nursing (CGN) received a grant award in the amount of $97,000 from the Henry L. Guenther Foundation to purchase procedural training equipment for the College of Graduate Nursing Simulation Training Center. The new high fidelity simulation model equipment is paramount to improve the hands-on training to prepare graduate nursing students for practice in urgent care (UC) and emergency department (ED) settings in Southern California. The expanded training capabilities made possible by these simulation models will also enable students from other WesternU Colleges to learn and practice these unique skills as well.
“The WesternU College of Graduate Nursing has built a solid reputation of educating outstanding and compassionate advanced practice nurses and nurse leaders – a success we credit to our students, faculty, and community partners, such as the Henry L. Guenther Foundation.” - Dr. Donna M. Emanuele, DNP, RN, FNP-BC, ENP-C, CNS, FAANP, Director, Doctor of Nursing Practice Program|ENP Post Graduate Certificate|Associate Professor of Nursing
“CGN is a leader in hybrid education for nurse practitioners”
