Workforce Innovation Lab for Behavioral Health and Human Services
Schedule a free consultAn Integrated Continuum of Behavioral Health Care
Our country is experiencing a mental health crisis with increasing levels of unmet behavioral health needs. Due to historic underinvestment in behavioral health care, lack of coverage, and low reimbursement rates, more and more people can’t receive the care they need. But WIL offers hope to repair the system. Our program works to
- Convene and collaborate with stakeholders such as educators, providers, and relevant government agencies to develop workforce pipelines;
- Train and provide technical assistance for integration efforts, development of care coordination, and implementation of population health models;
- Conduct qualitative research that informs policy decisions about the workforce; and
- Promote fair wages and benefits.
Licensed providers and clinical supporters can do many things to bolster the behavioral health workforce. But where do they start? WIL shows organizations how to promote a more diverse and representative workforce, provide additional training, ensure all roles have pathways for advancement, and more. We’ll help you
- Develop retention and recruitment strategies;
- Reinforce attention to diversity, equity, and inclusion;
- Promote well-being in the workplace culture;
- Support and train middle managers;
- Develop scopes of practice that ensure clinical staff are working at the top of their license;
- Design career pathways; and
- Promote fair wages and benefits.
Behavioral health workers improve health outcomes and address social drivers of health. But, where there aren’t enough behavioral health workers, patients can’t get timely care. WIL recommends several ways to engage your workforce, strengthening your retention rate and proving to your staff that you value each of them. WIL helps you
- Ensure that systems and individual organizations of care offer professional development and career-enhancing opportunities;
- Prepare supervisors for effective supervision and mentoring;
- Encourage engagement and participation;
- Instill work–life harmony and workplace well-being; and
- Promote fair wages and benefits.
Start With a Healthy Workforce
Our nation is facing a behavioral health workforce crisis.
Unfortunately, this crisis is happening when we desperately need a more robust behavioral health workforce. The opioid crisis, record-breaking homelessness, and skyrocketing rates of anxiety and depression are all overwhelming the system. AHP’s Workforce Innovation Lab for Behavioral Health and Human Services (WIL) works directly with providers and governments to address the problem, applying solutions across systems, organizations, and employees.
Work with AHP’s WIL to build a comprehensive, integrated continuum of behavioral health care supported by a rich workforce pipeline.