Care Corps Trainees
NYC Health + Hospitals
NYC Health + Hospitals announce new Care Corps program - Care Corps, a new program that trains New Yorkers who have faced significant barriers to employment to serve in entry-level positions in behavioral health.
NYC Health + Hospitals and Project Renewal have launched Care Corps, a workforce development program designed to train New Yorkers for careers in behavioral health while helping address staffing shortages across the city’s healthcare system. The free six-week program combines classroom instruction, simulation-based hospital training, and paid internships to prepare participants for entry-level behavioral health positions. Since launching last year, 45 participants have completed the program, with 78% securing employment at NYC Health + Hospitals or other healthcare systems across New York City.
The initiative reflects a growing effort to strengthen New York City’s behavioral health workforce at a time when demand for mental health services continues to rise. By creating direct pathways into stable healthcare careers for residents who have faced barriers to employment, the program not only expands access to jobs with benefits and career growth opportunities, but also helps improve the city’s ability to deliver behavioral health care to thousands of New Yorkers each year.
For Mental Health Awareness Month, NYC Health + Hospitals and Project Renewal Announce New $2 Million Program to Strengthen the Behavioral Health Workforce
(New York, NY – May 15, 2026) – As part of Mental Health Awareness Month, NYC Health + Hospitals and Project Renewal today announced Care Corps, a new program that trains New Yorkers who have faced significant barriers to employment to serve in entry-level positions in behavioral health. The $2 million program was created to help fill vacant positions at NYC Health + Hospitals and create a strong behavioral health workforce pipeline. Since the program launched last year, 45 people have graduated, and 78% of them (35 people) have been hired at NYC Health + Hospitals or another hospital system in New York City. It is slated to train additional participants through 2026 and may expand based on ongoing workforce needs. Care Corps is a free program that offers three weeks of classroom training at Project Renewal followed by a three-week internship, where students practice scenarios with actors in a hospital setting at NYC Health + Hospitals’ Institute for Medical Simulation and Advanced Learning. As part of the program model, NYC Health + Hospitals pays Care Corps participants based on the number of training hours they complete in their internship to simulate a true work experience and foster accountability. Graduates qualify for roles as Psychiatric Social Health Technicians, working in inpatient psychiatric units to support behavioral health nurses with patient activities of daily living, observation, wellness checks, hallway monitoring, and escorts. Salaries start at $50,000 a year, plus union and medical benefits. Individuals with a high school diploma or educational equivalent are eligible to apply and can learn more about the program here. A video about the program is available here.
“Our workforce is the backbone of the City’s health care system,” said Sophie Pauze, Senior Director, Strategy & Impact, Office of Behavioral Health, NYC Health + Hospitals. “We are proud to launch this new initiative with our partners at Project Renewal, the Office of Patient Centered Care and IMSAL to expand opportunities for New Yorkers to enter the behavioral health workforce, creating a supported pathway into an essential nursing support role with significant opportunities for growth and career advancement. This program reflects the health care system’s deep commitment to fostering a strong and inclusive workforce and helping make NYC Health + Hospitals the go-to place for careers in public behavioral health.”
“At NYC Health + Hospitals, we are committed to delivering exceptional care to our communities while also fostering opportunities for New Yorkers,” said NYC Health + Hospitals Director of Nursing Simulation in the Office of Patient Centered Care, Kimberly Campbell-Taylor, MSN-Ed, RN, CHSE. “The Care Corps program embodies this commitment by providing individuals with a pathway to acquire valuable skills and join the behavioral health workforce. Through our partnership with Project Renewal and the utilization of our advanced simulation facilities at the Institute for Medical Simulation and Advanced Learning, we are proud to prepare the next generation of Psychiatric Social Health Technicians.”
“The Psychiatric Social Health Technicians program has been an amazing collaboration between the Office of Behavioral Health and the Institute for Simulation in Healthcare,” said Dr. Michael Meguerdichian, MD, MPH-Ed, Chief System Medical Simulation Officer of NYC Health + Hospitals Institute for Simulation and Advanced Learning. “This collaborative has allowed community members to understand the job they are applying for and develop the skills they need to succeed when faced with the challenges of behavioral health units.”
“What makes the Care Corps internship unique is that we don’t just teach skills — we create an immersive learning experience that allows trainees to rehearse the realities of behavioral health care in a psychologically safe environment,” said Dana Trottier, PhD, LCAT, RDT/BCT, Director of the Fellowship in Healthcare Simulation at NYC Health + Hospitals, Institute for Medical Simulation and Advanced Learning. “In developing this program, I wanted trainees to experience the full arc of inpatient psychiatric care, from admission through discharge, while building both clinical confidence and emotional resilience. By working with the same simulated patients over several weeks, trainees develop therapeutic relationships, practice crisis response, and learn how to navigate complex human interactions before ever stepping onto a behavioral health unit. That continuity helps prepare graduates not only to perform the job, but to thrive in it with empathy, professionalism, and confidence.”
“At Project Renewal, we believe that stable employment can be transformative and that lived experience is a powerful asset in behavioral health care,” said Jaime Madden, Chief Operating Officer of Project Renewal. “Through Care Corps, participants are gaining the skills, support, and hands-on experience needed to build long-term careers while helping meet the growing demand for behavioral health services across New York City. This partnership with NYC Health + Hospitals is creating new opportunities for New Yorkers who have faced barriers to employment while strengthening the city’s behavioral health workforce.”
Today’s announcement builds on the range of initiatives that NYC Health + Hospitals has launched to grow its behavioral health workforce, including:
The Behavioral Health Nursing Career Ladder, which provides staff, including Psychiatric Social Health Technicians, with educational support and financial assistance to enroll in nursing school in exchange for a three-year commitment to NYC Health + Hospitals.
·Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner fellowships, which provide early-career staff with intensive training to increase skills and confidence and foster their upward career mobility.
- The Psychiatric Physician Assistant Career Pathways Program, allowing Physician Assistant (PA) students to rotate through behavioral health clinical placements and didactics, fostering interest in the field.
- The NextGen Public Psychiatry Leadership Program, a new initiative for third-year Psychiatry Residents to enhance their training through mentorship, lectures, and site visits—nurturing long-term interest in public sector psychiatry.
·The BH4NYC Loan Repayment Program, which provides student debt relief to behavioral health clinicians at NYC Health + Hospitals.
The Care Corps program also represents NYC Health + Hospitals’ larger workforce development strategy of incorporating behavioral health simulation to enhance healthcare professionals’ clinical skills and competence. Simulation training has been shown to enhance healthcare professionals' clinical skills and competence. By practicing in a simulated environment, learners can refine their technical abilities, procedural skills, and decision-making, leading to better performance in real clinical situations. In addition, participants in simulation programs often report increased confidence in their clinical abilities and reduced stress when facing real-life scenarios.
NYC Health + Hospitals is the largest provider of behavioral health in New York City. The system provides nearly 60% of behavioral health services citywide serving over 82,000 patients annually across emergency, inpatient and outpatient care.
