GREENSBORO — Sydneigh N. Beatty, daughter of Riegelwood’s LaToya Beatty and a 2014 graduate of East Bladen High School, has been honored with selection as an ambassador in the HBCU Center for Excellence in Behavioral Health’s Inaugural Behavioral Health Ambassador Cohort.
Beatty, granddaughter of Sheila and Mervin Beatty, is a student in the Joint Master of Social Work Program between North Carolina A&T State University and UNC Greensboro.
Beatty went on from East Bladen to Winston-Salem State, where she was graduated in 2018. She will complete her master’s in the spring.
A release from UNCG says the HBCU Center for Excellence in Behavioral Health is a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration funded center housed at Clark Atlanta University. By 2025 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services predicts shortages of behavioral health professionals. The center aims to promote awareness of and provide support to students pursing degrees in Behavioral Health at HBCUs via its key initiative, HBCU Career, Awareness, Recruitment, and Engagement, Services. That spells out the acronym HBCU C.A.R.E.S.
Beatty was chosen through a national application and selection process. Each is a qualified graduate student enrolled in Behavioral Health programs at HBCUs.
Beatty’s role as ambassador will be to develop and deliver presentations about behavioral health related topics to undergraduates on campus, the release says. She’ll also facilitate career chats, a 20-minute conversation with three to five students about their academic and career journey. The goal is to increase awareness of and share the cultural capital needed to enter behavioral health fields.
She’ll get mentoring, training and resources through online meetings during the academic year and in a mini-conference held at Clark Atlanta University in February.
Sydneigh Beatty has been chosen as an ambassador in the HBCU Center for Excellence in Behavioral Health’s Inaugural Behavioral Health Ambassador Cohort.