Pharmacy Technician & Behavioral Health Technician Pathways
The Training Fund’s Health Care Apprenticeship Consortium partners with local skills centers, healthcare and behavioral health employers, and colleges to run College in the High School apprenticeship programs.
We are thrilled to now partner with Puget Sound Skills Center (PSSC) who serves over 1,000 diverse students from across the region. We are running two programs, Pharmacy Technician Apprenticeship and Behavioral Health Technician Apprenticeship, with PSSC. Students of color make up 91% of the Pharmacy Technician program and 93% of the Behavioral Health Technician program. These programs provide students with a foundation to go on to enter the healthcare and behavioral health fields.
Training Fund and PSSC Staff
Our team visited the skills center in December 2025 to hear from the instructors and students about the value of the programs. There has been increased student interest in both the Pharmacy Technician and Behavioral Health Technician pathways. We value our partnership with PSSC for their passion for guiding students and their support of these innovative programs.
The Pharmacy Technician College in High School Apprenticeship program will provide students with classroom instruction and skills learning in collaboration with PSSC. Students also earn college credit. Once classroom instruction is complete, students interested in moving into the apprenticeship program will interview with an employer partner to secure paid employment for ongoing on-the-job training to enter the healthcare workforce as a Pharmacy Technician. Apprentices “learn while they earn” – working part-time while school is in session gaining skills taught by experienced teachers, coaches, and assigned mentor/preceptor Pharmacy Technicians.
Maya Geletu, a PSSC student, shared that she has always wanted to be a doctor and after her freshman year classes gave her the opportunity to dissect pig hearts, she was committed to pursuing medicine.
“I’m in all the way. I was going to do running start, but my Vice President at Todd Beamer Federal Way high school told me about the pharmacy technician program and encouraged me to look into it as a step for entering healthcare. It has been really fun. So far, we have learned calculations and are starting to learn about nerves. We’re also working with skittles as practice for handling medications.”
Students in the program learn about the 200 most used medications, making the class a great foundation for entering any medical profession. The long-term goals of students in the class vary from considering a career in pharmacy to wanting to be a nurse, OBGYN, radiology technician, or going into sports medicine.
Grace Kleps, interim program instructor, is filling in for the Pharmacy Technician class as the program launches. She finds purpose in working with students and ensuring they have the support they need. Grace was also previously an interim instructor for the Behavioral Health Technician program.
“I had a great time with the Behavioral Health Technician students! They were hungry to learn, and it meant a lot that they told me, ‘Thank you, you have taught us more than we have been able to learn.’ We went through refusal skills, listening skills, and the six steps for decision making. I helped set them up through the transition for their new instructor. It was a great class, and we talked a lot about how you have to know yourself before you can help others, understand what triggers you, and learn people and communication skills.”
Both Behavioral Health Technician classes are full, and Melissa, the new instructor for 2026, is excited to pilot the apprenticeship curriculum and connect students with opportunities. She holds a MSW and has vast professional experience in behavioral health and leadership.
“This role is the perfect culmination of my life and career. I’ve worked with youth who had barriers or gaps to education and connected them with apprenticeships, programs, and resources to give them the tangible skills they need. My goal is to give students the foundation of knowing themselves. I want to take everything I know to serve my community and these kids.”
The Behavioral Health Technician College in the High School Apprenticeship is a two-year program. Students have the opportunity to complete Nursing Assistant-Certified training and clinical hours. Students interested in moving into the apprenticeship program will interview with an employer partner and secure paid employment for ongoing on-the-job-training.
Students complete college in the high school apprenticeship programs with their high school diploma, college credit, and national certification, all at no cost to themselves!