Awards
Loan Repayment Award
The program allocates approximately 30 awards for loan repayment each year to Mental Health practitioners in West Virginia. The award amount will be at least $10,000 (depending on outstanding debt) for one (1) year of full-time service or two (2) years of part-time service for eligible mental health professionals. The award shall be renewable up to three (3) years based on availability of funds and continued eligibility for the loan repayment program.
The full amount of the award shall be disbursed to the participant upon the receipt of verification of one (1) year of full-time employment or two (2) years of part-time employment in an approved site, beginning from the date of the award agreement. The Senior Director of Health Sciences shall approve the disbursement of the funds.
Service Obligation Information
The service obligation is either one year of full-time (a minimum of 40 hours/week) or two years of part-time (a minimum of 20 hours /week) practice. All eligible service sites must be in West Virginia.
Eligible Sites for Service Obligation can vary from county to county. Please use the links below to help determine if your site is eligible. If you have any questions about site eligibility please email BehavioralHealth@wvhepc.edu. Please note some of these listings are housed outside of the Commission and may be updated at any time.
Eligibility for Other Financial Incentives
You may be able to concurrently serve your Mental Health Loan Repayment Program service obligation with some other financial incentive programs and with the permission from the Senior Director for Health Sciences.
Eligibility Guidelines
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- Certify that the applicant possesses educational debt in an amount equal to or exceeding the proposed award amount
- Be a graduate of an accredited program at an institution of higher education, having obtained a degree preparing them for licensure and is currently licensed as one of the following:
- Licensed doctoral clinical psychologist
- Master’s level licensed psychologist
- Licensed independent clinical social worker
- Licensed certified social worker
- Licensed professional counselor
- Licensed marriage and family therapist
- Psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner
- Other mental health disciplines identified by the Senior Director of Health Sciences as experiencing a shortage of practitioners
- Be employed in an underserved area in West Virginia, providing individual and group therapy or counseling for a majority of his, her or their practice.
- Be a West Virginia Resident
- Be employed full-time or part-time at an eligible practice site