Master of Social Work (MSW) students at Penn’s School of Social Policy & Practice (SP2) are helping strengthen integrated behavioral health services for children and families across Philadelphia through a new partnership with Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). The initiative gives students immersive training in integrated pediatric behavioral health care while helping address growing workforce needs in underserved communities.
Funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), CHOP’s Interprofessional Behavioral Health Training for Integrated Primary Care Practice program prepares the next generation of behavioral health professionals to work collaboratively in primary care and other pediatric settings. The program brings together psychology interns, child and adolescent psychiatry fellows, and advanced year social work trainees for team-based learning experiences across primary care clinics, schools, and specialty care environments.
SP2’s participation in the initiative began in July 2025. An inaugural cohort of three SP2 MSW advanced year students were selected for the Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training (BHWET) fellowship, completing a comprehensive program of interdisciplinary training at CHOP alongside psychology and psychiatry trainees.
The partnership aims to expand access to high-quality behavioral health care for children and adolescents while preparing a workforce equipped to meet increasing community needs. Supported by a generous stipend, fellows gain hands-on experience in pediatric integrated behavioral health settings while developing advanced clinical and interprofessional skills.
“With SP2 as a key partner, we’re building an interprofessional behavioral health workforce ready for integrated primary care. This collaboration ensures that psychology, social work, child and adolescent psychiatry, and medical teams learn—and lead—together,” says Dr. Jennifer Mautone, principal investigator and program director of CHOP’s Interprofessional Behavioral Health Training for Integrated Primary Care Practice program.
For Isabel Burton, the fellowship offered a transformative opportunity to deepen her clinical training while learning alongside other disciplines. “My experience with the BHWET program was incredibly valuable in shaping my clinical training and professional development,” Burton said. “We participated in weekly interdisciplinary seminars with CHOP psychiatrists and psychologists that highlighted the value of collaborative, team-based behavioral health care.”
Burton, who interned in CHOP’s Mood Partial Hospitalization Program, said the experience reinforced the unique role social workers play in patient care. “Working on an interprofessional team highlighted the importance of understanding the broader context of a patient’s life,” she said. “Social workers help bridge communication between patients, families, schools, and providers while advocating for patient needs and goals.”
Emma Olshin, who balanced the fellowship with a full-time role as a Behavioral Health Disposition Care Coordinator at CHOP, gained experience across both clinical and systems-level work. Her practicum included supporting children and families in the Emergency Department while contributing to policy and procedure development initiatives.
“The experience combined direct practice with systems-level thinking,” Olshin said. “[It] strengthened my ability to integrate learning across settings and stay grounded in both clinical and macro perspectives.”
Working alongside professionals from multiple disciplines gave Olshin a deeper understanding of social work’s role in team-based care. “Social workers [help] bridge gaps between disciplines by contextualizing patient and family experiences, addressing psychosocial needs, and advocating for realistic care plans,” she said. “Our role is not only clinical, but also relational and systems-oriented, ensuring that care decisions reflect the broader realities patients are navigating.”
For Mia Prowisor, the fellowship reinforced the value of collaboration and curiosity across professional roles. “Working on an interprofessional team taught me that social work has a seat at every table,” Prowisor said. “It has encouraged me to step outside of my degree-specific education and become curious about the other roles that make hospital work so effective.”
Prowisor, who interned in oncology social work at CHOP, found that the experience clarified overlapping responsibilities among care providers and strengthened her communication skills.
“I learned how to identify the gray areas and communicate effectively with the appropriate providers to ensure there are no redundancies or gaps in care,” she said.
Across all three fellows, the program played a key role in building confidence and preparing them for careers in behavioral health.
“The BHWET program increased my confidence by allowing me to collaborate with other providers and learn from their expertise,” Burton said. “[The program] helped me feel more prepared to work in fast-paced behavioral health environments.”
Olshin echoed that sentiment, noting that the fellowship helped demystify interdisciplinary work. “Over time, I felt more assured in how I approached situations, how I communicated, and how I thought through complex cases, which made entering the behavioral health workforce feel less intimidating and helped me to feel more prepared,” she said.
Prowisor added that the program strengthened her readiness to work in collaborative healthcare environments. “Combining BHWET with my hospital-based practicum experience has made me feel more knowledgeable about other professional backgrounds and increased my confidence in entering a team environment where I may be the only social worker in the room,” she said.
The partnership between SP2 and CHOP is helping build a stronger pipeline of behavioral health professionals prepared to meet growing community needs. “CHOP’s ongoing BHWET program sets an exceptionally high standard for interprofessional behavioral health training, preparing the next generation of providers to work collaboratively in real-world care settings,” said Dr. Abigail Ross, who serves as the fellowship’s site principal investigator and the faculty director of the Master of Social Work Program at SP2. “At SP2, we are thrilled to partner with CHOP to intentionally integrate social work trainees into this model.”
Dr. Ross emphasized the importance of including social work in interdisciplinary training. “I am deeply grateful to Dr. Jen Mautone for her leadership and for championing the inclusion of social work as a core discipline within BHWET,” she said. “It reinforces a collaborative and inclusive approach to behavioral health workforce development.”
For SP2 recent graduates like Burton, Olshin, and Prowisor, that collaboration is already shaping their professional paths and helping expand access to essential behavioral health care for children and families across Philadelphia. In addition, the three inaugural fellows have been appointed to a newly established SP2 BHWET Alumni Advisory Board, which is intended to elevate and enhance the fellowship experience for SP2 MSW trainees by incorporating participant feedback into program development, strengthening the quality of social work practicum education, and improving opportunities for meaningful interprofessional learning for trainees within and beyond the CHOP–SP2 training partnership.
The BHWET Program is slated to receive funding through 2029, allowing SP2 and CHOP to welcome four consecutive cohorts of MSW students during the grant period. Information sessions for the next cohort will be offered in Fall 2026, with additional details to be shared as they become available. Students interested in learning more about the fellowship are encouraged to attend an information session or contact Dr. Abigail Ross, SP2 site principal investigator, with any questions.