Building a Better Behavioral Health Workforce New Online Resources Now Available

Two online resources now available by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) will help mental health and substance abuse professionals to organize and strengthen efforts around workforce development.

An Action Plan for Behavioral Health Workforce Development provides an overview of key findings of a multi-year process that showed how public and private collaboration by diverse stakeholders can strengthen the behavioral health workforce. This Action Plan articulates specific, actionable objectives to assist the Nation in transforming the behavioral health service delivery systems.

Strengthening Professional Identity: Challenges of the Addictions Treatment Workforce, summarizes trends in addictions treatment that will help mental health and substance abuse professionals understand the challenges facing the addictions treatment workforce. This report addressed issues of recruitment, retention and staff development and provides recommendations for improving management, recruitment, education and accreditation, retention, and workforce infrastructure.

Both publications are available on the Web at http://www.samhsa.gov/matrix2/matrix_workforce.aspx.