LA County Department of Mental Health Graduate Stipend Program

The purpose of the LAC DMH Stipend Program is to recruit and develop the public mental health workforce by attracting qualified clinical professionals who are completing their mental health-related degrees.

• Students who are currently participating in their final year of clinical field placement (traineeship, internship, or practicum)
• Students enrolled in an academic program that leads to a mental health-related degree (See list below)
• Students who are in good standing in their academic program
• Students who do not have any existing service obligation with other entities, including other HCAI or county workforce incentive programs that require a post-degree service obligation

• Master’s degree from an accredited School of Social Work (MSW)
• Master’s degree from an accredited college or university in marriage, family, and child counseling, marital and family therapy, psychology, clinical psychology, counseling psychology, or counseling with an emphasis in either marriage, family, and child counseling or marriage and family therapy (MFT)
• Doctorate from an accredited college or university in psychology, educational psychology, education with the field of specialization in counseling psychology, or in a discipline deemed equivalent by the State of California Department of Consumer Affairs, Board of Psychology (Ph.D./Psy.D.)
• Approved Master’s level Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner’s Program issued by an accredited college or university (PNP)

Each year, 144 graduate students enrolled in a Master’s or Doctoral program in the following disciplines will be awarded a stipend of $18,500. The number of stipends designated to each discipline is as follows: MSW (60 stipends), MFT (60 stipends), Ph.D./Psy.D. (20 stipends), PNP (4 stipends). LA County has the option to amend the number of allocated stipends between disciplines based on the number of qualifying applicants.

Students awarded a stipend will need to commit to one year of full-time, paid employment post-degree in a clinical capacity at either a directly-operated LAC DMH facility or an agency that’s contracted by LAC DMH. Click here to search for directly-run or contracted agencies.

The objectives of the LAC DMH Stipend Program are to:

• Contribute to the public mental health workforce with newly qualified clinical professionals
• Provide a financial incentive to attract well-trained, linguistically and culturally competent students who will serve communities and clients who have been historically underserved due to geographic location and cultural and linguistic barriers
• Recruit students with experience in the LAC DMH mental health delivery system through practicum training
• Recruit students with the linguistic capacity to provide services in one of the threshold languages

The county has identified the following as threshold languages:

• Arabic
• Armenian
• Cambodian
• Cantonese, Mandarin, and additional Chinese dialects
• Farsi
• Japanese
• Korean
• Russian
• Spanish
• Tagalog
• Thai
• Vietnamese
• American Sign Language

Threshold languages include languages other than English that are primarily spoken by consumers of mental health services in Los Angeles County.

To fulfill the goal and objectives of the LAC DMH Stipend Program, students with any of the following are encouraged to apply:

• Interest in post-degree clinical training and practice of public mental health care
• Interest in working as a mental health clinician in their own communities
• Field training (practicum) in a DMH-operated or contracted agency
• Field training (practicum) in a community setting (non-DMH) that provided experience applicable to public mental health care
• Capacity to provide clinical services in one of LA County’s threshold languages
• Knowledge and training in evidence-based practices
• Experience in field-based practice, such as in schools, homes, and other community sites
• Experience providing clinical service to older adults, veterans, immigrants, or the unhoused
• Experience providing clinical care to those dealing with trauma, domestic violence, child/elderly abuse, or substance use/abuse
• Personal experience overcoming hardships or emotional/physical challenges
• Personal experience of family members dealing with serious mental health illnesses
• Clinical experience providing in-person care

Students who complete their degree between September 1, 2024, and August 31, 2025, qualify to apply for the 2024-25 stipend.

Students completing their degree after August 31, 2025, will be eligible to apply for the 2025-26 LA County Stipend Program next year.

Applications must be done in one sitting. The application cannot be saved. To avoid submitting incomplete applications, students are strongly encouraged to review the essay questions in advance.

TIP: Prepare your answers, especially the required essays, before accessing the application. Be sure to review your responses for accuracy. Then, when filling out the application, you can copy and paste your responses to the proper questions.

Sample Application

The application cycle for the 2025-2026 LA County DMH Graduate Stipend Program opens December 17, 2025, and closes February 11, 2026.

Scoring of Parts Two and Three will be by a Selection Committee consisting of mental health professionals in each discipline who are knowledgeable in the clinical programs and the client populations served within Los Angeles County’s mental health delivery system.

The scores will be ranked separately by discipline. Students selected to receive a stipend will be based on the ranking of scores in their discipline. The county selects those applications to be awarded a stipend based on the ranking of scores by discipline. Students will be informed via their personal email address provided in Part One whether their application has been selected to receive the stipend or not. (Please note that applicant scores will not be provided to students.)

What if you have been selected as an Alternate? 

Students who are selected as alternates are also required to attend the Stipend Orientation. In doing so, student-alternates will be able to accept the stipend if an awarded student withdraws.

What are the Chances that an Alternate will be awarded?

Last year, all 20 of the student-alternates were awarded a stipend.

If you are notified that your application was selected, you will receive a Zoom invitation to attend a Stipend Orientation.

Selected Students are required to attend the Orientation on either Thursday, April 16, 2026 from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM or Friday, April 17, 2026 from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM.

What will be Covered During the Stipend Orientation?

The Stipend Orientation will provide information on the following:

• The Stipend Employment Contract, which students will need to sign and submit
• Students’ obligation to secure full-time employment in an LAC DMH directly-operated facility or a contracted mental health agency
• Guidance on how to search for qualifying employment
• The issuance of the stipend funds and required forms for stipend disbursement
• Other required documentation, including an official transcript, an employment verification letter, and an employment completion letter
• Q & A

The stipends are awarded by the LA County Department of Mental Health (DMH) to grow its clinical workforce, so post-graduate employment needs to be at an agency affiliated with DMH.

Full-time employment is determined by the agency/employer. Workdays and work hours are, of course, also determined by the agency/employer

The goal of the county’s stipend program is to augment its pre-licensed clinical workforce, ultimately increasing its licensed professional staff. Any temporary legal residence or employment restrictions do not promote the goal of the county’s stipend program.

Residence in LA County or attendance at a school located in LA County is not required. However, if awarded a stipend, you will need to secure qualifying employment at an agency in LA County that is affiliated with DMH.

Although an objective of the county’s stipend program is to address the need for behavioral health care in the primary language of its consumers, the capacity to provide services in a language other than English is only one of the qualifications that promote the goal of the county’s stipend program.

If you are not able to complete one year or 12 months of qualifying employment, you will need to return the stipend amount of $18,500.

The full amount of $18,500 will be directly deposited into the student’s bank account. Educational stipends, such as the ones awarded by the county, are tax-exempt if used for educational costs. The stipend amount will not be reported as income to the government.

Recipients of the LA County stipends are required to fulfill one year (12 months) of employment at an agency affiliated with the county’s Department of Mental Health. If you are receiving another stipend/scholarship that also requires post-degree employment or service obligation, you are not eligible for the LA County stipends. If you receive a stipend/scholarship from your school or county that requires clinical training in their county but no post-degree obligation, you may be eligible and are encouraged to apply to the LA County stipend program.

• Alliant University
• Antioch University
• Azusa Pacific University
• Arizona State University
• Biola University
• California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
• California State University, Dominguez Hills
• California State University, Fullerton
• California State University, Long Beach
• California State University, Los Angeles
• California State University, Northridge
• Campbellsville University
• Chicago School of Professional Psychology
• Cypress College
• Fuller Theological Seminary
• Grand Canyon University
• Loyola Marymount University
• Mount Saint Mary’s University
• Mount San Antonio College
• Pacific Oaks College
• Pacifica Graduate Institute
• Palo Alto University
• Pepperdine University
• San Bernardino Valley College
• University of California Los Angeles
• University of La Verne
• University of Massachusetts Global
• University of San Francisco
• University of Southern California
• University of the West