Healthforce Center at UCSF hosted a one-hour webinar for health care and workforce funders, policymakers, researchers, and other interested groups about opportunities for growing California’s behavioral health workforce.
Dr. Janet Coffman presented the landscape challenges and strategies for addressing shortages in this workforce. These strategies include investing in expansion of training programs and financial assistance for students (such as stipends), increasing racial/ethnic diversity in the behavioral health workforce, and expanding the use of peer support specialists, community mental health workers, social work assistants, and other paraprofessionals.
Dr. Sunita Mutha, director of Healthforce Center, moderated a panel discussion with Dr. Sandra Hernández, president and CEO of the California Health Care Foundation, and Elizabeth Landsberg, director of the California Department of Health Care Access and Information, to explore opportunities for meeting our behavioral health workforce needs.
Two reports were released in tandem with the webinar:
- Building the Future Behavioral Health Workforce: Needs Assessment
- Paraprofessionals in California’s Behavioral Health Workforce
Watch the complete recording below: