State Strategies to Increase Diversity in the Behavioral Health Workforce

This post delves into these disparities, exploring the causes and impacts on marginalised communities. Pre-migration trauma, the often harrowing journey to safety, and post-migration stressors all contribute to a complex mental health landscape. Refugees and asylum seekers face unique and severe challenges when it comes to mental health. Ethnic minorities in the UK are more likely to experience socioeconomic disadvantages, which are closely linked to mental health issues.

.1: The National Standards for Mental Health Services and social and cultural diversity

Members of underserved communities face numerous obstacles when seeking mental healthcare. While peers are uniquely qualified to work with individuals in SUD treatment based on shared lived experience – and self-report a sense of purpose and drive in this work – they also expressed that a lack of clear career ladders, lack of longevity/job security, and low pay pose barriers to remaining in these roles. Several states require cultural competency continuing education (CE) for social workers, who provide behavioral health assessments, treatment and therapy, and case management services. Providing cultural competence training to healthcare providers has been found to improve sensitivity to language barriers and the importance of the patient’s story, in addition to boosting patient satisfaction. This approach grows the pool of eligible applicants for future behavioral health careers while allowing students to remain in the communities in which they live and work.

Diversity & Health Equity

• Indigenous communities face some of the highest suicide rates yet have the least access to culturally competent care.
• Stigma around mental health conditions exists in every culture, but the way it presents varies.
• The grants ensure Victorians from diverse communities are part of Victoria’s mental health reforms and the system includes people with lived experience at its heart – a key recommendation of the Royal Commission.
• These programs are designed to empower individuals by building essential skills and providing tailored community support.

Investing in mental health reduces healthcare costs, improves education, increases workforce engagement, and strengthens communities. Therefore, expanding mental healthcare access within these communities is essential for breaking this cycle and improving overall well-being. Underserved communities often experience disproportionately high rates of both mental and physical health challenges, highlighting the critical need for improved mental healthcare access. States, health care organizations, and professional associations are increasingly requiring cultural competency and implicit bias training for employees, as such training has the potential to improve the quality of care provided to diverse populations and ensure better health outcomes for communities of color. Engaging local students early in their careers, retaining young professionals from underserved communities as they enter the health workforce, and educating up existing workforce necessarily diversifies New Mexico’s behavioral health workforce and ensures that existing capacity meets increasing demand for services. States can support the emerging behavioral health workforce through targeted programs that provide tailored supports to help the provider community more closely reflect the communities they serve.

Additionally, racial discrimination within the healthcare system can discourage people from minority backgrounds from accessing services. However, these same factors also limit their ability to access care, as private mental health services can be prohibitively expensive, and public services are often overstretched. By educating people of color in regard to options of diverse mental health providers, there will  be buy-in from the community with utilizing services. Mental health treatment in communities with people of color continue to experience stigma and  avoidance of services, however with education in regard to the benefits with the utilization of  services, mental health treatment may be more embraced. I also encourage people of  color to promote change in our communities, especially by focusing on mental health services. Collaboration among policymakers, healthcare professionals, and communities is vital to establish a more inclusive and fair mental health care system.

California’s Increasing EMDR access for BIPOC individuals plan notes that services and supports can be individualized and may include resources such as subsidized childcare and dependent care, transportation vouchers, substance use disorder treatment, and housing supports. The report indicates that diversity is increasing among all behavioral health specialties, but most significantly among addictions counselors, who, at over 20% non-White, represent the most racially diverse behavioral health workforce in the state. In 2010, Nebraska enacted legislation that created the Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska (BHECN) — supported by state general funds — to coordinate efforts to develop the statess behavioral health workforce across institutions of higher education.

The CARES Act of 2020 (CARES Act, 2020) expanded the use of telehealth for mental health services and ensured Medicaid and private insurance covered telehealth. Recently, Congress passed two bills that specifically addressed issues of access, funding, and implementation of evidence-based care. As a result, the ACA failed to close gaps in states with communities who have lower access to care, states with a greater number of rural counties, states with large number of racially minoritized communities, and states with a greater percentage of uninsured individuals (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2023b). In this descriptive policy analysis, we outline the history of federal legislative policies that have dictated community mental health systems and how these policies were implemented in North Carolina, which has a high percentage of uninsured communities of color. Scaling up and diversifying routine mental health care means embedding it across all sectors – health, education, social care, and digital platforms. It requires the development of robust community-based alternatives to support discharged individuals and prevent rehospitalization.