As last year’s SAMHSA report to Congress on the nation’s substance abuse and mental health workforce noted, the demand for behavioral health services in the US exceeds what is available. With expanded access to care through the Affordable Care Act and new Mental Health Parity rules, that demand will only increase in coming years, and a larger workforce will be needed to provide care. What are the impediments to growing the behavioral health workforce? What are the challenges? And how can people with lived experience and consumer organizations help the nation to meet those challenges? CAFE TAC’s newest newsletter, Focus30: The Mental Health Workforce Crisis, reviews findings about issues within the nation’s mental health workforce. It also shares some of the solutions that are being attempted across the country, and the challenges ahead that people with lived experience and consumer organizations may be able to help the system meet. Check it out here!
