Background
Behavioral health (BH) and public health (PH) systems share many common goals, workforce members, practice settings, and missions, yet their respective workforces are often siloed in research and in practice. Recent workforce challenges attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic indicate that continuing to silo these systems is detrimental. Both the BH and PH workforces are seeing high rates of burnout, decreasing workforce sizes, and disparate impacts on BH and PH workers of color and those with the lowest wages. Evidence exists for the success of organization and process models for integrating primary care, PH, and BH. Integrated systematic approaches to the delivery of BH and PH services hold promise for expanding access to care, increasing workforce efficiencies, and transforming BH and PH services delivery with significant improvements in health.
Aims/Research Questions
This study aims to identify actual and potential synergies and intersections between the BH and PH workforces and investigate which sectors of the PH workforce receive BH training. Potential priorities in workforce development will be investigated through a review of literature and through convening conversations with organizations that offer BH training to better understand the occupations, settings, and services provided by PH workers who receive this training. Analysis of findings will result in a compendium of resources to support the BH training needs of the PH workforce. Research questions this study is intended to answer are:
- What occupations comprise the PH workforce, and where is there overlap between the BH and PH workforces?
- What post-education and post-credential BH training opportunities are offered by HRSA-funded Regional Public Health Training Centers, the National Council for Mental Wellbeing (NCMW), and the National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI) to PH institutions and/or PH professionals?
- Who are the PH occupations and organizations that receive these BH trainings?
- What BH content is included in these trainings?
Findings
Collaboration across BH and PH systems holds promise for enhancing the capacity of the PH workforce to better address provider shortages. Evidence exists for the value of incorporating BH education into PH training to supplement and aid in workforce understaffing. BH training for PH workers creates opportunities to broaden knowledge of signs, symptoms, and risk factors for mental health issues and connect people in need to professional and self-help resources.
