State Policy Strategies for the Workforce Emergency in Behavioral Health

The United States is experiencing a behavioral health workforce emergency of unparalleled magnitude. After decades of inaction, selected states have launched significant efforts to strengthen the mental health and substance use disorder workforce. Seven state policy strategies in frequent use for addressing the current emergency are described, with examples for each. Links to more than 140 additional examples are also provided. States can draw on these strategies as they consider actions to strengthen their behavioral health workforce. There is a compelling need to act quickly while executive and legislative branches have a strong interest in solving this problem and federal support to the states is abundant.