October marks World Mental Health Month, with Mental Illness Awareness Week offering an important opportunity to recognize both the growing need for behavioral health services and the professionals who make access to care possible. In Southwest Florida, strengthening that workforce is essential to ensuring children and families can receive timely, high-quality support when they need it most.
The Naples Children Foundation (NCF), the founding organization of the Naples Winter Wine Festival, is investing $2 million over the next two years to address a critical challenge affecting children and families across the region: a shortage of licensed behavioral health professionals.
Through a first-of-its-kind Registered Intern Workforce Pilot, developed in partnership with Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) and six nonprofit organizations, NCF is helping create a stronger pathway from graduate education to professional licensure. The initiative will expand clinical training opportunities, increase access to children’s behavioral health services and build a sustainable pipeline of professionals prepared to serve the region for years to come.
“One of the greatest barriers to improving children’s mental health isn’t a lack of talented individuals entering the profession—it’s the lack of opportunities for them to complete the supervised clinical experience required to become licensed,” said Sarah Zaiser-Kelly, NCF Senior Vice President, Grants and Community Impact. “This investment addresses that challenge head-on by supporting organizations that train emerging clinicians while building a stronger, more sustainable behavioral health workforce for our community.”
Behavioral health providers throughout Florida continue to face workforce shortages, while emerging professionals can encounter significant barriers on the path to licensure. Graduate students must complete supervised clinical experience, yet paid registered internship opportunities and access to qualified supervisors can be limited. At the same time, nonprofit behavioral health providers often lack the resources needed to support these positions and provide supervision. The result is a bottleneck that can make it more difficult to grow the workforce at a time when children and families need greater access to care.
NCF’s Registered Intern Workforce Pilot is designed to address these challenges at multiple levels. The investment will fund 17 Registered Intern positions, qualified supervisors to mentor and oversee interns, professional development and licensure examination preparation, as well as increased organizational capacity to train future behavioral health professionals.
A cornerstone of the initiative is NCF’s partnership with FGCU, which will help strengthen the connection between graduate education and professional practice. By connecting emerging professionals with registered internship opportunities at participating nonprofit organizations, the pilot provides the supervised clinical experience required for licensure while creating opportunities for graduates to establish their careers in Southwest Florida.
“This partnership creates a critical bridge between education and professional practice, giving emerging professionals access to the paid, supervised experience they need to pursue licensure while helping meet the growing behavioral health needs of children and families across Southwest Florida,” said Dr. Tom Felke, Professor and BSW Program Director in FGCU’s Department of Social Work.
The impact extends beyond the 17 positions funded through the initial two-year investment. By supporting supervisors, strengthening participating organizations’ ability to train clinicians and creating a more established pathway into the local workforce, the pilot is designed to build infrastructure that can continue developing behavioral health professionals into the future.
As communities recognize World Mental Health Month and Mental Illness Awareness Week this October, the Registered Intern Workforce Pilot demonstrates how investment in the behavioral health workforce can translate into greater access to care. For children and families, a stronger workforce means more professionals available to provide needed services. For emerging clinicians, it means fewer barriers between completing their education and becoming licensed. And for nonprofit providers, it creates additional capacity to develop and retain talented professionals within the region.
The initiative reflects NCF’s commitment to investing in lasting, systems-level solutions that address the root causes of challenges facing children and families. Rather than responding only to today’s workforce shortage, NCF and its partners are building the foundation for a stronger behavioral health system—one equipped to serve more children today while preparing the professionals who will care for them tomorrow.
Read the full press release: https://napleschildrenfoundation.org/2026/08/04/naples-children-foundation-invests-2-million-to-strengthen-southwest-floridas-behavioral-health-workforce/
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