{"id":73106,"date":"2026-02-24T17:33:38","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T22:33:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bridgemi.com\/?p=73106"},"modified":"2026-02-24T17:46:02","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T22:46:02","slug":"report-michigan-lags-in-preparing-students-for-mental-health-careers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bridgemi.com\/michigan-health-watch\/report-michigan-lags-in-preparing-students-for-mental-health-careers\/","title":{"rendered":"Report: Michigan lags in preparing students for mental health careers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Michigan is tied for fewest behavioral health vocational programs in the nation, with only two<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>In Michigan\u2019s schools, the counselor-to-student ratio is 573:1 \u2014 more than twice the national recommendation<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>A new research report recommends expanding courses, credentials and financial incentives to grow the pipeline<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Michigan does not have enough opportunities for students to train to become behavioral health care workers, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mhc.org\/_files\/ugd\/24abcc_bc0cf98a0931497aa34fbe97c29f1d65.pdf\">a new research report<\/a> developed in partnership with the Michigan Department of Education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That lack of education is contributing to an \u201curgent shortage\u201d of certified school-based mental health professionals in the state, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mhc.org\">Michigan Health Council<\/a>. The health care research nonprofit says the ratio of counselors, psychologists and social workers to students in Michigan is two to three times higher than national recommendations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Improving vocational programs could \u201cintroduce thousands of high school students each year to fulfilling careers,\u201d according to Michigan Health Council president and CEO Craig<strong> <\/strong>Donahue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Michigan&#8217;s behavioral health workforce crisis demands innovative solutions, and Career and Technical Education represents one of our most promising yet underutilized tools,&#8221; Donahue said in a statement. \u201cThese careers are desperately needed in our communities and will help ensure every Michigan student has access to the mental health support they need to thrive.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The report notes there were 573 students per school counselor in Michigan in the 2023-2024 school year, 1,354 students per school psychologist, and 458.5 students per school social worker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Related: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/bridgemi.com\/michigan-health-watch\/michigan-quietly-kills-effort-to-restructure-mental-health-care-system\/\"><strong>Michigan quietly kills effort to restructure mental health care system<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/bridgemi.com\/talent-education\/hundreds-of-michigan-districts-schools-reject-safety-and-mental-health-funds\/\"><strong>Hundreds of Michigan districts, schools reject safety and mental health funds<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/bridgemi.com\/talent-education\/michigan-schools-hired-874-mental-health-staffers-under-program-set-end\/\"><strong>Michigan schools hired 874 mental health staffers \u2014 under program set to end<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Michigan offers just two behavioral health Career and Technical Education, or CTE, programs across its high schools, technical centers and community colleges, placing it in the bottom five nationally, according to the report. Oklahoma leads the country by offering 11 pathways for students to work in professions like certified nursing assistants and home care aides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The state\u2019s credentials are also limited in scope \u2014 most are variations of the Child Development Associate, a certification that typically leads to careers in education, not mental health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Behavioral health CTE programs in Michigan are not \u201ceasy to find,\u201d according to the report, as they are often housed under broader categories that can limit awareness. Those pathways are available in the state\u2019s Health Sciences\/Allied Health; Health Sciences, General; and Education career clusters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>About 18,000 Michigan students were enrolled in health sciences and education CTE programs in the 2024-2025 school year, according to a Bridge Michigan analysis of state data. The state figures don\u2019t specify how many of those students were on the behavioral health track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Michigan Health Council recommends the state expand the availability of its specialized behavioral health career and technical education courses and more clearly identify the programs that can lead to a career in behavioral health care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Offering a more diverse field of non-degree credentials in behavioral health could set more students on career pathways, the council says, and financial incentives, like paying teachers bonuses for their student\u2019s credentialing as used in states like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ednc.org\/02-27-2024-a-look-at-north-carolinas-state-bonuses-and-supplements-for-teachers\/\">North Carolina<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/careertech.org\/resource\/florida-career-and-professional-education-act-cape\/\">Florida<\/a>, could also improve enrollment.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe promising practices highlighted in this report strongly align with Michigan\u2019s goals to expand and enhance Career and Technical Education programs that meet both student aspirations and industry needs,\u201d said Celena Mills, Director of Career and Technical Education at the Michigan Department of Education, in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBy increasing visibility, diversifying behavioral health courses, and expanding credential opportunities, we can better prepare students for high-demand careers in counseling, psychology, and social work.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michigan is tied for the fewest behavioral health vocational training programs in the nation, contributing to a school mental health workforce shortage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1814,"featured_media":73107,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2026-02-24T22:33:43Z","apple_news_api_id":"c2c4d49b-f218-4c68-b3c6-b4d582a0203b","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2026-02-24T22:46:06Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQ==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AwsTUm_IYTGizxrTVgqAgOw","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[2446],"tags":[1418,1510,14],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[4259],"class_list":["post-73106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-michigan-health-watch","tag-mental-health-michigan","tag-michigan-k-12-schools","tag-michigan-worker-vacancies","entry"],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - 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(Annie Barker for Bridge Michigan)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bridgemi.com\/michigan-health-watch\/report-michigan-lags-in-preparing-students-for-mental-health-careers\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/bridgemi.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Report: Michigan lags in preparing students for mental health careers\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bridgemi.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/bridgemi.com\/\",\"name\":\"Bridge Michigan\",\"description\":\"Michigan\u2019s nonpartisan, nonprofit news source\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bridgemi.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/bridgemi.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bridgemi.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Bridge Michigan\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/bridgemi.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bridgemi.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/bridgemi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/logo-500.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/bridgemi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/logo-500.svg\",\"width\":500,\"height\":188,\"caption\":\"Bridge Michigan\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bridgemi.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BridgeMichigan\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/bridgemichigan\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/bridge.michigan\",\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/bridgemi.com\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@bridge.michigan\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bridgemi.com\/#\/schema\/person\/415f6e88f4a8be67354673c9765e054d\",\"name\":\"Eli Newman\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bridgemi.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/0e3ae25cb164d86693a0a7e17f041135\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/bridgemi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/EliNewmanheadshot-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/bridgemi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/EliNewmanheadshot-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Eli Newman\"},\"description\":\"Eli Newman joined Bridge Michigan as a health reporter in May 2025. A lifelong Michigander with a decade of public radio experience, he brings a steadfast commitment to community-focused journalism and deep, impactful reporting. Prior to joining Bridge, Eli served as assistant news director and editor at WKAR in East Lansing, where he managed the creation of meaningful and thought-provoking multimedia news content for the capital region. Before that, he spent nearly nine years as a reporter at WDET in Detroit, covering breaking news, politics and community affairs \u2014 including extensive reporting on the COVID-19 response and other quality-of-life issues that impact public health. His award-winning work has been recognized by the Public Media Journalists Association, the Michigan Associated Press Media Editors, the Michigan Association of Broadcasters and the Society of Professional Journalists, Detroit Chapter. Originally from West Bloomfield, Eli earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He now lives in Detroit. As a member of the Health Watch team, Eli reports on public health policy, access to care and health equity issues across the state. 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