Medina Serdarevic, who is pursuing a master’s degree in Social Work, is among 16 graduate students from across Texas to receive the Ima Hogg Scholarship from the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health. Serdarevic’s scholarship is $5,000.
“Pursuing a career in social work will allow me to work with people and help them gain access to mental health services, which is something I am very passionate about,” Serdarevic said in a Hogg Foundation news release announcing the scholarship.
The Hogg Foundation is an Austin-based organization dedicated to improving access to mental health services across Texas.
By awarding scholarships, foundation leaders hope to encourage greater numbers of students to pursue careers in mental health, thus creating a larger pool of professionals to service the state’s residents.
“An investment in their post graduate careers is an investment in improving the quality of mental health services across Texas, where the mental health workforce is in critical condition,” Hogg Foundation officials said in the release.
Fifteen other graduate students from across Texas also won $5,000 scholarships, the release said[WAC1].
“An investment in their post graduate careers is an investment in improving the quality of mental health services across Texas, where the mental health workforce is in critical condition,” Hogg Foundation officials said in the release.
As of July 2018, 73 percent of Texas counties, 186 of 254, are designated “Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas,” according to A Guide to Understanding Mental Health Conditions and Services published in 2018 by the Hogg Foundation.
As of May 2018, Texas had only 1,141 people trained as certified mental health peer specialists and 624 professionals with active peer specialist certifications enabling them to use their lived experiences with behavioral health issues to help recipients of Texas Health and Human Services Commission-funded services, the Guide the Understanding Mental Health Conditions reported.
Waitlists for such services in Texas are lengthy, according to the Guide.
As of June 2018, there were more than 263,000 individuals on interest lists for program slots for mental health-related services, according to the 2018 Guide to Understanding Mental Health Conditions and Services.