Behavioral Health Workforce Development in Washington State: Addition of a Behavioral Health Support Specialist

Prior to this, Teresa was chief of staff for the Chicago Public Schools’ Office of Specialized Services, leading school redesign, strategic district-wide initiatives, and public information initiatives focused on special education, juvenile justice, and disability access. Most recently, she was the executive vice president of strategy, development and growth, with Rogers Behavioral Health System, where she led the development of a multi-disciplinary division, encompassing government relations, national policy, payor contracting, marketing, communications, business development and real estate development. Where behavioral health leaders collaborate to grow and transform communities across the nation. We help organizations build a data-informed workforce, organizational and community resilience, trauma-informed supervision and leadership, and eliminate gaps in implementation of organizational, systemic culture change.

The mission is to ensure safe and competent patient care by licensing health professionals, enforcing standards of practice, and providing information to healthcare practitioners and the public. Efforts to strengthen the behavioral health workforce should continuously adapt. By streamlining processes and efficient use of resources, healthcare leaders can ensure quality care while addressing How Right Now: Mental Health Resources mental health needs in their communities. Programs like the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) have provided funding to enhance the behavioral health workforce, enabling states to improve service delivery. Federal support is crucial for sustaining efforts in workforce development and initiatives aimed at addressing current shortages.

WDI: Washington State Behavioral Health Workforce Development Initiative

In order to develop a comprehensive career ladder for peer support specialists in Massachusetts, it is important to seek their perspectives on hiring and advancement opportunities as well. It is important to note that our research focused on employers of peer support workers. Our analysis found that there is a demand for peer support workers throughout Massachusetts and the United States, however, the supply of peer support workers lags behind.

Policy Recommendations for Coordinated and Sustainable Growth of the Behavioral Health Workforce

Without sufficient investment, initiatives for workforce development cannot be sustained, nor can the necessary infrastructure and support systems be established. States have created special task forces and commissions to make recommendations for improving this essential element of access to behavioral health care. Recent demands for increased care for people with behavioral health problems often miss the severe shortage of skilled workers in the field. The partnership is leveraging Collective Impact to address the workforce crisis, and using a cross-sector approach to address the long-standing challenges for expanding and solidifying the behavioral health workforce.

• Opportunities for career advancement, recognition of prior skills, and mental health support can enhance retention rates and improve care quality.
• Read the full article, including an online supplement highlighting 140+ additional state policy examples, in Psychiatric Services, Volume 75, Issue Number 9 (may require institutional or library access).
• Across behavioral health roles, wages are not competitive and senior peer leaders are not accounted for within the reimbursement system.
• “The Behavioral Health Workforce Center will help increase the number of behavioral health professionals in Illinois at a crucial time, as we are still grappling with the impacts of the pandemic,” said IBHE Executive Director Ginger Ostro.
• All the above are part of a broader initiative to strengthen California’s mental and behavioral workforce and emphasize the importance of a comprehensive approach to investing in systematic approach for establishing and stacking credentialing to grow workers and facilitate their upward mobility.

A National Network forEmpowering Behavioral Health Workforce Development

Providing additional education allows peer support workers to grow personally and professionally and allows organizations to retain employees. The organization (Figure 5) created an internal structure where peer support workers start as “Recovery Support Navigators” who serve as “liaisons to care,” providing brief intervention and important connections to treatment for substance use disorders. Commercial insurers have not yet followed suit for all peer support services.⁵ Hence, the development of a standardized certification process is critical to feedback into the growth of peer support positions. Part of the challenge in expanding the supply of peer support workers stems from norms about how their services are typically reimbursed. There is a growing need for peer support roles in behavioral health, but the sector faces stark labor shortages