After decades of minimal attention by most states to the challenges of recruiting and retaining a mental health and substance use disorder workforce, the last several years have seen a substantial increase in state activity. Senior Science and Policy Advisor of the Annapolis Coalition, Dr. Michael Hoge, and his colleagues…

by Michael T. Flaherty, Ph.D., Chair, Annapolis Coalition on the Behavioral Health Workforceflahertymt@gmail.com Despite increased funding for services, increased access to medication assisted treatment, and ever-growing community efforts into harm reduction practices, drug overdoses in the U.S. were estimated to be 100,306 in the 12-month period ending April 2021, a…

According to the 2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 80% of individuals with a substance use disorder (SUD) do not get needed care; 57% of those with mental illness also do not get needed care and fully one-third of those living with serious mental illness do not…

Mental Health America (MHA) announced the creation of the MHA National Certified Peer Specialist (NCPS) credential. The certification allows those with the “lived experience, training, and job experience” to work along-side health care teams, and aims to create career paths and opportunities for peer supporters. MHA notes that the MHA…

Dr. Gail Stuart, President of the Annapolis Coalition Board of Directors, spent a week in March continuing her work with the Carter Center’s Mental Health Program to expand behavioral health workforce development in Liberia.  The trip marks her fifth visit to the country since 2010 to refine the curriculum she…

The Child Health and Development Institute, with support from the Connecticut Department of Children and Families, led a recent initiative to create a statewide behavioral health workforce plan for Connecticut’s children, youth, and families. The Annapolis Coalition’s Senior Science and Policy Advisor, Michael Hoge, is a co-author of the plan,…

Recently a colleague sent me a link to a presentation I gave at the 31st Annual Rosalynn Carter Symposium that was focused on the behavioral health workforce.  In this talk entitled, The Behavioral Health Workforce: Evolution, Transformation or Revolution, I did not recount the multifaceted nature of the problem, nor its…

by Larke Nahme Huang, Ph.D.Annapolis Coalition Board MemberFormer, Senior Policy Advisor, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration The mental health crisis for children and adolescents in the U.S. has reached a critical point, presenting challenges not only to families, communities and the mental health care system, but across all…

The Federal Government Accountability Office (GAO) is undertaking a review of behavioral health workforce projections, including estimates of supply and demand from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). It is interested in understanding: In the recent legislative session, the Oregon legislature passed HB 2086, which includes a provision in Section…