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The VACBP is committed to working to address the critical behavioral health workforce shortage in Virginia.
There is uniform agreement that there is a critical shortage of qualified behavioral health and substance abuse treatment professionals in Virginia and this directly impacts access to early-intervention and preventative care. Beyond this, the behavioral health industry has additional challenges that exacerbate our workforce shortage, including fragmented service delivery, highly competitive recruiting, lack of visibility, low reimbursement rates and the fact that the system is highly regulated.
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Drivers of Labor Shortages:
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Potential Solutions to the Behavioral Health Workforce Shortage:
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Increased flexibility in supervision requirements to enable LCSWs and LPCs to supervise both licensed-eligible counselors and social workers.
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Consideration of where stackable credential programs may enable quicker, more cost-effective, and targeted training for behavioral health workers.
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Reciprocity that allows appropriate levels of experience and/or supervision that is gained in other states to satisfy requirements within Virginia.
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Consideration of clinician extenders that may be developed to help move individuals into the workforce more quickly and efficiently.
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Improved communications with institutions of higher learning so they better understand the requirements to work in the behavioral health industry and can appropriately align curriculum to better prepare their graduates for the workforce.
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Expanded investment in and use of state-supported low-interest loans, loan forgiveness and scholarship programs for individuals working to become behavioral health professionals in Virginia.
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Ensuring that through the redesign process and other efforts, there is an evaluation of the qualifications required to perform each community-based Medicaid service to reassess what specific skills, competencies and education level would best prepare an individual to provide each specific type of behavioral health support. This should include the potential to replace current Bachelors and/or Masters-level degree requirements with intensive, service-specific training.
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Increased awareness of the benefits to working in the behavioral health industry.
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Exploration of partnership opportunities between industry and the Virginia community college system to develop training and/or certification programs for individuals interested in careers in behavioral health.
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Greater industry engagement earlier in a child’s education experience to introduce opportunities for careers in behavioral health.
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Join us to get involved in our efforts to address the behavioral health workforce challenge.
Already a member and want to engage in our workforce initiative, contact Mindy Carlin.
Already a member and want to engage in our workforce initiative, contact Mindy Carlin.