The Virginia Human Services Training Center

Located at the Region Ten Community Services Board in Charlottesville, but serving the entire State of Virginia, The Virginia Human Services Training Center was established in March 2000 with start-up funding from the Virginia Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation, and Substance Abuse Services. The VHST consumer provider training program is modeled after a program that began in 1986 in Denver, Colorado, at the Regional Assessment and Training Center.

Through a collaboration with DMHMRSAS, local Community Services Boards, the Virginia Department of Rehabilitative Services (at both the state and local levels), and Piedmont Virginia Community College, VHST offers a career studies certificate program in human services.

Designed to prepare mental health consumers for direct service positions at community services boards and in other human services agency settings, VHST operates on an annual schedule and strives to train and place 12 to 15 students each year into direct service provider positions. In addition, VHST gathers and disseminates information about consumer provider issues to agencies throughout the state.

Paul Abrams, VHST Director, has a Master's Degree in Counseling and 15 years of working as a mental health clinician and consultant to consumer/provider organizations.

For more information on VHST, see the website at http://avenue.org/vhst/index.htm