As cities and counties continue expanding mobile crisis response teams, stabilization centers, diversion programs, and other behavioral-health infrastructure, many leaders are confronting the same challenge: finding enough trained professionals to meet rising demand. For Governing Magazine, Stacey Baxter reports that states are increasingly responding with workforce solutions designed to recruit, train, and retain more behavioral-health providers—particularly in rural and high-need communities facing the most severe shortages.
The piece highlights several approaches states are already using to expand the number of trained professionals available to support crisis response, including:
- States Using Workforce Mapping To Target Gaps In Care: Florida created a behavioral-health workforce center that “conducts comprehensive data analyses to identify needs and priorities throughout the state,” while California now operates tools “modeling the supply and demand of the state’s behavioral health workforce” in real-time.
- Loan Repayment Programs Help Recruit Clinicians To High-Need Areas: North Carolina launched a “$20 million initiative” offering mental-health professionals “up to $50,000 in educational loan repayments” in exchange for serving high-need communities, including rural areas facing major provider shortages.
- States Build New Career Pipelines: Texas created a “Mental Health Professional Pipeline Program” to help junior college students pursue “degrees and licensures in the mental health field,” while Nevada launched a workforce initiative focused on improving the “recruitment, training, and retention of behavioral health professionals.”
Spotlight On Other Innovative Strategies That States Are Deploying To Expand The Behavioral Health Workforce:
- In Nebraska, State Investments Produced A “49% Increase In Licensed Behavioral Health Providers.” A recent report from Nebraska’s Behavioral Health Education Center found that the state experienced a “49% increase in licensed behavioral health providers from 2010 to 2024,” including a “24% increase in rural counties,” helping create “an estimated 1.2 million additional behavioral health appointments. Nebraska officials said the state’s 49% increase reflects “sustained investment in workforce development,” including investments in “career awareness and preparation, training… professional support, research and evaluation, and outreach,” alongside statewide partnerships designed to “recruit, train, and retain behavioral health professionals.”
- Illinois Built Crisis Workforce Pipeline Through Paid Training And Peer Support Programs. In a recent study published by researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Wayne State University examining Illinois’ mobile crisis workforce, researchers detail how the state launched the CRSS Success Program, which funds “10 colleges, universities, and technical schools” to train peer responders tuition-free while also providing “internship stipends” and support for “housing, transportation, food, childcare.” The study also highlighted “Program 590,” which finances 64 organizations to expand mobile crisis teams statewide using clinician-and-peer response “dyads” modeled after Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration guidance.
- Oklahoma Passes Legislation To Expand Local Behavioral Health Workforce. Lawmakers in Oklahoma announced a new bill signed by Governor Kevin Stitt aimed at strengthening the state’s behavioral-health workforce by allowing certified behavioral health case managers and peer recovery support specialists to maintain certification while working at the city and county level. Supporters said the reform will help expand “local access to care” while strengthening support services. Rep. Nicole Miller, who championed the legislation, explained that “these are the people meeting others where they are and helping them navigate some of the hardest moments in their lives… they should be able to focus on that work without unnecessary barriers standing in the way of serving those who rely on their support most.”