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Kaiser Permanente and UH Mānoa expand mental health workforce

Fri, 21 Aug 2026 07:00:00 +0000

PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Tammy Brownfield
tammy.m.brownfield@kp.org

HONOLULU — The Kaiser Permanente Mental Health Career Accelerator program is helping address Hawaii's shortage of licensed mental health professionals through a multi-year grant from Kaiser Permanente in Hawaii. The program, in partnership with the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, removes financial and structural barriers that often prevent many graduates from becoming licensed. Since its launch, the program has enrolled 93 participants and provides financial assistance, licensure preparation, and clinical supervision options to help candidates obtain their clinical license and enter the workforce sooner.

“The Kaiser Permanente Mental Health Career Accelerator was created to help address Hawaii's growing need for licensed mental health professionals by removing barriers that can prevent talented graduates from entering the workforce,” said Aimee Chung, state advisor for the accelerator program and field education coordinator at UH Mānoaʻs Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health. “By providing financial support, licensure resources, and access to clinical supervision, we're helping build a stronger mental health workforce that can better serve communities that have unmet needs across the state."

Hawaii faces a significant shortage of licensed mental health professionals. According to “Social Work in Hawaii: A Workforce Profile,” a 2022 report published by the University of Hawaii at Mānoa's Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health, Hawaii Island and Kauai County have fewer than 95 licensed social workers per 100,000 residents, compared with 136 on Oahu. The report also projects that demand for mental health professionals will increase 21.6% statewide through 2028, further widening existing workforce gaps.

One of the biggest barriers is licensure. Graduates must complete 1,000 to 3,000 supervised clinical hours over a minimum of 2 years before they can practice independently, yet qualified supervisors can be difficult to find, especially in rural communities. Nationally, 57% of people who earn master's degrees in mental health never become licensed due to financial strain, complex requirements, and a lack of support.

The Kaiser Permanente Mental Health Career Accelerator helps remove these barriers by providing up to $10,000 per participant in stipends, financial assistance for exam preparation materials and fees, peer support, and connections to a network of locally vetted clinical supervisors across Oahu, Hawaii Island, Maui, and Kauai. The program supports candidates who have master's degrees in social work, mental health counseling, and marriage and family therapy with the goal of helping them become fully licensed in 2 years.

The program will soon celebrate its first 2 graduates, Kristina Silva-Pedrero, MSW, LSW, and Ale Cisneros Zavala, MSW, LSW, marking an important milestone in the effort to strengthen Hawaiʻi's behavioral health workforce. The graduates are already serving clients and families in their communities, helping strengthen services on Maui and Hawaii Island.

“I am so grateful for this program and how it is eliminating barriers to licensure. I wasn’t sure I had the capacity to pursue my LCSW,” said Silva-Pedrero. “Within the program, I felt 100% supported, empowered, and capable of achieving more than just this professional endeavor. I had access to mentorship, studying materials for the LCSW exam, and professional growth opportunities that I would have otherwise had to tirelessly search for and fund with the small budget I had as a new MSW graduate.”

“This program didn’t just open doors — it reminded me that my story belongs in this field. That being a mother, an immigrant, and a first-generation student isn’t a barrier — it’s a strength. It’s what makes me uniquely equipped to serve my community with heart and authenticity,” Cisneros Zavala said.

Kaiser Permanente Hawaiʻi has funded the program through a multiyear grant, as part of a broader national Kaiser Permanente Mental Health Career Accelerator developed in partnership with the National Council for Mental Wellbeing in 2023 to address the mental health workforce shortage.

"We know licensure is where a lot of good people get stuck, not because they lack the skills, but because the process itself is so hard to navigate," National Council for Mental Wellbeing president and chief executive officer Chuck Ingoglia said. "What's happening in Hawaiʻi shows what's possible when a health system steps up to close that gap. Two graduates are already serving clients, and dozens more are on the way. That's real progress for communities that have been waiting a long time for this kind of support."

“We are proud to support the Kaiser Permanente Mental Health Career Accelerator because expanding access to behavioral health care begins with investing in the next generation of providers and clinicians,” said Ed Chan, market president, Kaiser Permanente in Hawaii. “Through our partnership with the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, we're helping strengthen Hawaii's mental health workforce and increasing opportunities for more residents, particularly on neighbor islands, to receive the care they need.”

About Kaiser Permanente

PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Hilary Costa
hilary.c.costa@kp.org

Key takeaways

The Youth Mental Health Corps increases access, strengthens connections, and complements clinical care.
Kaiser Permanente joins Schultz Family Foundation and Pinterest as a national partner of the Youth Mental Health Corps.
Funding will first expand programs in California, Maryland, and Oregon before scaling to other states.
Grant will help address increasing mental health needs among teens, aiming to support an additional 200,000 youth nationwide.

OAKLAND, Calif. — Kaiser Permanente has committed $10 million to expand the work of the Youth Mental Health Corps, an initiative that supports teenagers by connecting them with young adult peers who provide mental health and navigation support. The broad goal of the grant is to increase access to mental health support for an additional 200,000 youth nationwide.

As part of this support, Kaiser Permanente will join founding organizations Schultz Family Foundation and Pinterest as a strategic leader and national partner in advancing the Youth Mental Health Corps.

The Youth Mental Health Corps recruits, trains, and places young adults ages 18 to 29 who provide peer support to teens within schools, health clinics, and community organization settings. It aims to help youth navigate stress, isolation, and early signs of mental health concerns before a crisis occurs. Active in 16 states, the Youth Mental Health Corps has trained and placed nearly 1,000 members and reached more than 44,000 teens and community members since launching in 2024.

“Supporting mental health requires more than clinical care alone,” said Bechara Choucair, executive vice president and chief health officer for Kaiser Permanente. “The Youth Mental Health Corps creates another pathway for young people to receive emotional support through trusted peer relationships. It’s an innovative approach that helps communities expand support, foster connection, and meet young people where they are.”

Rates of anxiety and depression among teens are rising, and resources are limited. In 2023, 40% of high school students in the United States reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness. In 2024, more than 40% of youth 12 to 17 who experienced a major depressive episode did not receive any mental health treatment.

Kaiser Permanente’s $10 million commitment will help the Youth Mental Health Corps reach more young people and strengthen training for the young adults who provide peer support. The funding will initially expand existing Youth Mental Health Corps programs in California, Maryland, and Oregon, before scaling across Kaiser Permanente’s 9-state footprint.

A growing body of research shows that young people often feel more comfortable talking with peers they trust. Peer support approaches are particularly effective in fostering human connections, reducing isolation, and helping young people navigate personal challenges.

“The Youth Mental Health Corps was launched by the Schultz Family Foundation and Pinterest to prove that we could address 2 urgent needs at once: expanding access to youth mental health support while creating career pathways into the behavioral health workforce. In just 2 years, the corps has grown from 4 pilot states to a 27-state initiative that has already supported tens of thousands of young people,” said Vivek Varma, CEO of the Schultz Family Foundation. “Kaiser Permanente's extraordinary leadership and investment will help us build on that momentum, and we are thrilled to welcome a partner whose deep expertise and longstanding commitment to youth mental health will strengthen this work for years to come.”

The Youth Mental Health Corps has gained support from state leaders and community organizations committed to improving youth mental health. They see the program as an opportunity for young adults to get early career experience providing mental health services, potentially helping to grow the field’s professional pipeline.

“I am thankful to Kaiser Permanente and the Schultz Family Foundation and Pinterest for supporting the Youth Mental Health Corps and increasing access to mental health services,” said Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a longtime champion of service-to-career pathways. “Through service opportunities, we are creating meaningful pathways for young people to uplift their communities while they gain skills needed to succeed in their careers.”

This grant builds on Kaiser Permanente’s wider efforts to strengthen mental health at the population level through investments in innovative models of support, workforce development initiatives, educational partnerships, and other approaches to expanding access to care. As a nonprofit health care organization, Kaiser Permanente reinvests a portion of its revenue into initiatives like Youth Mental Health Corps that broadly benefit the communities where it operates.

Kaiser Permanente leaders will participate in the National Governors Association’s Summer Meeting in early August to discuss how innovative national service models can help states address pressing challenges like mental health, with the Youth Mental Health Corps highlighted as an example of this approach.

About the Youth Mental Health Corps

The Youth Mental Health Corps is a national service initiative addressing two urgent challenges: the youth mental health crisis and the behavioral health workforce shortage. The Corps trains and places young adults ages 18 to 29 as near-peer mental health navigators in schools, community organizations, and health care settings, providing trusted, non-clinical support to youth while gaining the training, credentials, and experience needed to pursue careers in behavioral health. Created by the Schultz Family Foundation and Pinterest, the Youth Mental Health Corps is powered by a multisector partnership of state service commissions, philanthropic organizations, and corporate partners. Learn more at youthmentalhealthcorps.org.

About the Schultz Family Foundation

The Schultz Family Foundation's mission is to create greater opportunity, accessible to all. Our work is deeply rooted in the lives and values of our co-founders, Sheri and Howard Schultz, who believe talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not. We seek to apply the lessons they have learned over the decades to seed innovations and scale solutions to help young people successfully navigate the transition to adulthood and positively impact the trajectory of their lives. We are investors in unleashing potential and unlocking opportunity, working in partnership with employers, entrepreneurs, non-profits, and governments that share our aspiration of enabling everyone to access the full promise of America. Learn more at: schultzfamilyfoundation.org.

About Pinterest

Pinterest is a visual search and discovery platform where people find inspiration, curate ideas and shop products — all in a positive place online. Headquartered in San Francisco, Pinterest has over 600 million monthly active users worldwide.

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