Brenau University has a new scholarship that will provide financial support to students interested in becoming front-line mental health clinicians who respond with law enforcement officers.
The Darby Scholars Program was established through a financial gift from the Melvin Douglas and Victoria Kay Ivester Foundation Inc.
“This is another extraordinary gift from the Ivester Foundation and we are humbled to once again partner with the Foundation to serve the betterment of our community,” Mike Smith, chair of Brenau’s Board of Trustees, said. “The generosity and commitment to the people of Gainesville and Hall County is the focus of the Foundation’s extremely generous investment in education and the health sciences.”
According to the university, Darby Scholars will be students in the master’s degree program in Brenau’s Lynn J. Darby School of Psychology and Adolescent Counseling. The recipients also will serve as in-field interns for the Gainesville Police Department.
Gainesville Mayor Sam Couvillon praised the program and the partnership in a press release.
“The Darby Scholar’s Program is exactly the kind of innovation that can come from the partnership with Brenau, the City and the Ivester Foundation,” Couvillon said. “That innovation is leading the way for mental health solutions and demonstrating the cooperation that our communities need. I could not be more proud of this program.”
Alex Haller, a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army, was named as the scholarship’s first
recipient. Haller earned a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology and an Army commission at the University of North Georgia in May 2022. After being awarded an educational delay to pause his active duty service, Haller is currently pursuing a master’s degree in psychology at Brenau.
“The Darby Scholar internship, which includes field experience at the jail, in the courts and with the police department, is providing invaluable experience,” Haller said.
He noted he welcomes the financial support since he is unable to work full-time due to demands of the internship and his degree program.
While the scholarship is new, Brenau’s internship program with local law enforcement agencies is not. Brenau alumna Anjana Freeman, a member of the university’s first graduating class in the master’s in counseling program,assisted GPD Chief Jay Parrish launch the department’s co-responder program after being hired as its first mental health clinician.
In the co-responder model the internship follows, a clinician is dispatched to work together with officers to help de-escalate situations when mental health issues are at the core of the conflict. GPD has also hired two additional Brenau alumni as mental health clinicians to expand its co-responder program and offers internships to Brenau psychology students to learn first-hand.
“I’m learning as much as I can about how the system functions that I can apply to the Army because that’s where I will be for the majority of my career,” Haller said. “What’s working? What’s not working? I think all will be very applicable in some facet to my career in the Army, because my heart is working with veterans and soldiers.”
After earning his master’s degree, Haller hopes to pursue a doctorate in psychology before beginning his active-duty service as an Army psychologist, according to the university.
The Darby Scholars Program is the most recent instance of support from the Ivester Foundation to expand Brenau’s psychology program, which hopes to address a national and statewide gap in access to quality mental healthcare. In 2022, Georgia ranked No. 48 nationally in access to mental health care, according to the nonprofit Mental Health America. Much of the state is also categorized as underserved by the Georgia Department of Community Health.
“The goals of the Foundation are to support and uplift the overall health of our Hall County communities, and the lack of access to quality mental health care is a major issue locally and nationally,” Ivester Foundation President Lynn Darby said. “We recognize the continuing need of the police department and the sheriff’s department for qualified mental health clinicians. The Foundation believes that the co-responder program, paired together with the expertise and academic programming of Brenau University, can save lives.”
