LaMantia Family Presents Gift to Support Future UTEP Mental Health Professionals
EL PASO, Texas (Sept. 25, 2024) - The LaMantia family has partnered with the Stars Scholarship Fund to share a gift of more than $130,000 to The University of Texas at El Paso’s College of Health Sciences. The funds will support the University’s efforts to increase the number of mental health professionals in the region.
The family of regional business owners has a long history of proactive work to increase awareness of mental health issues and to reduce the shortage of mental health providers in the El Paso region. Their gift will go to the Department of Social Work’s postgraduate program to aid students in becoming Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSW) to bring certified, highly trained, quality social work professionals to the community.
The funds will sponsor 36 students through the first phase of the program, projected to start in Spring 2025. Each student is expected to complete the program in 2.5 years.
“Education is the key that nobody can take away from you; it can change generations of family members by opening doors that otherwise wouldn't have been there,” said Lisa Peisen, Stars Scholarship Fund board member and managing partner of L&F Distributors. “It’s giving people an opportunity, and I think these 36 students represent opportunity, not just for the UTEP campus or students looking to expand their degree, but also for the community at large.”
The Texas LCSW requirements include a minimum of 100 hours of supervised clinical practice by a licensed Texas LCSW supervisor (LCSW-S), which is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker that has met the requirements needed to become a supervisor to aspiring social workers. The average cost for LCSW-S supervision in the region is approximately $100 per hour, which is an out-of-pocket expense for social work students that could sum up to $10,000 solely for their supervision and practice hours.
The LaMantia gift will specifically support UTEP Social Work graduates by covering the cost of supervision and assisting with the costs for the state licensure exam.
The cost of pursuing a career as an LCSW can be over $13,000, which can become a financial barrier between the student and their social work license, leaders in the Department of Social work said.
“We have great students who choose to pursue degrees in social work,” said Stacy Wagovich, Ph.D., interim dean of UTEP’s College of Health Sciences. “The problem is that being a student is an expensive proposition, so they come out wanting to be professionals in this field, but they need to receive the licensure that is an additional expense just as they’re graduating. We are thrilled about this gift from the LaMantia Family because it is going to have a huge impact on our students and the community.”
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there is one mental health provider per 320 people on average in the U.S. However, data from 2023 show that in El Paso County, there is only one mental health provider per 810 people – 2.5 times lower than the national average.
The latest statistics also show a high demand for mental health providers in the region in military and homelessness settings, for court investigators and child therapists that support youth in various environments, and for mental health therapists that support families through crisis situations.
“Early detection of mental illness is so important and that’s where these licensed clinical social workers can come into play because they can break down the barrier of access to health and they can provide resources to the community,” Peisen said.
About The University of Texas at El Paso
The University of Texas at El Paso is America’s leading Hispanic-serving university. Located at the westernmost tip of Texas, where three states and two countries converge along the Rio Grande, 84% of our 25,000 students are Hispanic, and more than half are the first in their families to go to college. UTEP offers 170 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs at the only open-access, top-tier research university in America.
Last Updated on September 26, 2024 at 12:00 AM | Originally published September 26, 2024
By MC Staff UTEP Marketing and Communications
