Milestones
2001
The Annapolis Conference on Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training is convened in Annapolis, Maryland, to identify workforce challenges and potential solutions.
2002
Conference proceedings are published in a special double issue of Administration and Policy in Mental Health (Vol. 29, Nos. 4/5) to increase attention to the nation’s workforce crisis in behavioral health and innovative workforce development practices.
Leaders of the Annapolis Coalition provide testimony and written recommendations on workforce issues to the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health.
2003
The first national search for innovative workforce practices is launched.
2004
A second special issue is published in Administration and Policy in Mental Health (Vol. 32, No. 2) addressing innovation in workforce education and training, evidence-based teaching practices, workforce transformation in children’s mental health, and the need for substance abuse training among mental health professionals.
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) commissions Annapolis Coalition leadership to prepare a white paper and testimony on the behavioral health workforce for the IOM Committee on Crossing the Quality Chasm: Adaptation to Mental Health and Addictive Disorders.
Diverse stakeholders are convened at the Annapolis Coalition Conference on Behavioral Health Workforce Competencies to gather information on best practices in competency identification, training, and assessment.
2005
Proceedings from the competency conference are published as a third special double issue of Administration and Policy in Mental Health (Vol. 29, Nos. 4/5) in order to disseminate information nationally.
The U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) commissions the Annapolis Coalition to conduct a two-year process involving 5,000 stakeholders to develop the nation’s first comprehensive workforce strategic plan for behavioral health.
2006
The Coalition releases a report on a national search for innovative workforce practices.
In collaboration with SAMHSA, the Coalition convenes 250 stakeholders to review and comment on the emerging national strategic plan on behavioral health workforce development.
Representatives of the Coalition begin a process of keynoting more than 100 professional meetings to increase attention to workforce challenges and solutions.
Coalition staff and board members respond to the first of hundreds of requests from organizations for telephonic consultation.
In partnership with the WICHE Mental Health Program, the Coalition assists the University of Alaska Fairbanks in securing and implementing a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant on work-based learning for direct care mental health workers.
2007
SAMHSA releases the national Action Plan on Behavioral Health Workforce Development, which was drafted by the Annapolis Coalition, and identifies seven major goals and a comprehensive blueprint for action.
2008
Using the national Action Plan as a framework, the Annapolis Coalition launches a major initiative to provide technical assistance on workforce development to the states (including Alaska, California, Connecticut, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, New York, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin).
The Annapolis Coalition begins an eight-year engagement as the lead on behavioral health technical assistance for the National Direct Service Workforce Resource Center, which is funded by the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) and managed by the Lewin Group.
In collaboration with other partners in the National Direct Service Workforce Resource Center, leaders of the Annapolis Coalition author a CMS-funded white paper titled: A Synthesis of Direct Service Workforce Demographics and Challenges Across Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities, Aging, Physical Disabilities, and Behavioral Health.
2009
The Coalition partners with the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) to assess all 50 states on their behavioral health workforce development efforts through the highly publicized NAMI Grading the States project.
The leadership of the Coalition publishes a review of the national Action Plan in the journal Psychiatric Services to ensure broad awareness of the plan.
The Hitachi Foundation commissions the Coalition to convene leaders in the field to explore the potential use of federal stimulus funding to promote workforce development in behavioral health.
An analysis of the international implications of the national Action Plan is published in the International Journal of Mental Health (Vol. 38, No. 1).
2010
The Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority releases the Alaska Core Competencies for Direct Care Workers in Health and Social Services, which was developed by the Annapolis Coalition in partnership with the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE).
2011
Using the theme, “Better Jobs, Better Services, Better Business,” the Hitachi Foundation funds the Annapolis Coalition Pacesetter project, which involves a national search for behavioral health provider organizations that simultaneously improve the jobs of direct care workers, strengthen client services, and enhance the employer’s financial bottom line.
The Coalition is selected to serve as the workforce lead in the newly created Center for Integrated Health Solutions (CIHS), which is funded jointly by SAMHSA and the federal Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA,) and is managed by the National Council.
The Coalition leads the development and release of the Assessment Tools for the Alaska Core Competencies, which is based on a collaborative competency-building model.
At the request of the International Initiative on Mental Health Leadership (IIMHL), the Coalition forms and convenes the first International Working Group on Workforce Development
2012
The Coalition leads the development and release of the Alaska Core Competencies Curriculum for direct care workers employed in fields of mental health, addictions, developmental disabilities, and aging.
In partnership with the Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education (WICHE) and the Alaska Trust Training Cooperative, the Annapolis Coalition develops and launches a Train-the-Trainer learning community for the Alaska Core Competencies.
2013
The Annapolis Coalition begins two years of consultation to the Center for Social Integration on the development of SAMHSA-funded, peer support competencies.
As part of an ongoing advocacy effort, members of the Annapolis Coalition author an invited article in the journal Health Affairs (Vol. 32, No. 11) calling for increased federal leadership to address the growing workforce crisis.
The Coalition’s electronic newsletter is launched to disseminate information about behavioral health workforce development nationally.
The leadership of the Coalition represents U.S. efforts on behavioral health workforce development at a meeting of the International Initiative on Mental Health Leadership in Auckland, New Zealand.
2014
Coalition staff provides consultation on the evaluation of Health Care Innovation Awardees (HCIA), which is funded by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) and managed by the firm Mathematica.
The Coalition assists the National Association for Children’s Behavioral Health in building a long-range workforce development plan structured around the core goals of the national Action Plan.
2015
The Coalition is engaged by SAMHSA and RTI International to begin a four-year evaluation of the federally funded Minority Fellowship Program, which was expanded by the President in response to the Sandy Hook tragedy.
In collaboration with the Mental Health America of Los Angeles, a process is developed and implemented for systematically evaluating specific workforce interventions.
2016
Building on the concept of work-based learning, the Annapolis Coalition develops and releases The Alaska Core Competencies Coaching Toolkit for use by supervisors and trainers to develop the skills of direct care workers.
The Coalition, with SAMHSA and other organizations, co-sponsors the launch of a quarterly webinar on State Solutions to the workforce crisis in behavioral health.
Board and staff members of the Coalition author a comprehensive review of Behavioral Health Workforce Development in the United States in the handbook Workforce Development Theory and Practice in the Mental Health Sector, published by IGI Global.
2017
The Coalition authors an Issue Brief on Workforce Development in Coordinated Specialty Care Programs, in partnership with the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD) and with funding from SAMHSA.
In collaboration with WICHE, the Coalition completed a major revision of the Behavioral Health Aide/Practitioner competencies for the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium.
The Coalition’s Senior Science and Policy Advisor keynotes HRSA’s first Virtual Behavioral Health Conference, which focused on innovations in workforce education, training, and development.
2018
The Coalition partners with NIATx and the University of Wisconsin - Madison to conduct workforce projects as part of The Great Lakes Addiction Technology Transfer Center (ATTC).
2019
The Coalition builds a set of strategic recommendations to guide the University of Alaska in efforts to strengthen behavioral health workforce development throughout its educational system.
With support from the Central East MHTTC and Great Lakes ATTC the Coalition develops and launches Recruitment and Retention Learning Collaboratives in Maryland and Ohio to help providers address the increasing challenge of finding and keeping a workforce.
The Coalition conducts a needs assessment and develops strategic recommendations to guide the workforce-related activities of the new federally-funded Mental Health Technology Transfer Center Network.
2020
The Coalition conducts Recruitment and Retention Learning Collaboratives in Ohio, Washington, DC, and Pennsylvania with an added focus on community health centers.
On behalf of the nationwide Mental Health Technology Transfer Center Network, the Coalition completes a mixed-methods review to identify best practices in conducting effective behavioral health Learning Collaboratives.
2021
The Coalition launches Recruitment and Retention Learning Collaboratives in Delaware and Connecticut.
With support from the Central East MHTTC, the Coalition develops a resource guide on diversity, equity, and inclusion, and co-sponsors development of a written guide and webinar on recruiting and retaining community psychiatrists.
Coalition leaders provide an Invited Workforce Briefing to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use and a leadership team from SAMHSA.
2022
Coalition leaders provide an Invited Workforce Briefing to the DHHS Behavioral Health Coordinating Council.
The Coalition launches a second Recruitment and Retention Learning Collaborative in Maryland with support from the Central East Mental Health Technology Transfer Center.
2023
A summary of the Coalition’s initiative to promote evidence-based approaches to workforce development is published as Learning Collaboratives: A Strategy for Quality Improvement and Implementation in Behavioral Health in The Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research, 50, 263-278, 2023.