b'6RAPPORT | Feature StoryThe Workforce Crisis:WJC Pipeline Addresses Systemic Problems T he COVID-19 pandemic has changed thingsThere is a dire need for more behavioral health for most Americans. These social, medical,staff, in general, and now particularly in community-economic, personal, professional, and lifebased agencies, in emergency rooms (where people in changes have taken a toll on mental health with studycrisis often seek or are sent for help and end up either after study showing increases in stress, anxiety, andlanguishing or are sent home), in law enforcement, depression, and among some populations, suicidalin jails and courthouses, and in schools. Wages in the ideation, substance use, and other harmful behaviors.profession, for some positions, are low. Universities Studies have also shown that Americans seekingwerent training enough professionals before the care to address mental health issues are having apandemic began, and the need has now grown, and it harder and harder time finding it. In some areas, datawill continue to grow.suggests that Americans, stymied by a system whereBut this is far more than a numbers game. Jobs providers just arent available, arent even botheringneed to be filled, more appointments need to be to look for care anymore. We, as a country, have aavailable, but as with any industry, or any service huge problem.provider, the roles need to be filled with the right Before the pandemic began, behavioral healthperson to do the work. Cultural competence matters. needs, including substance use and mental illness,Studies have shown improved outcomes when mental were already the most common causes of disabilityhealth professionals demonstrate multicultural in the world. The pandemic has exacerbated thesecompetence, and when treatment aligns with a issues, said President Nicholas Covino. Yet, halfclients culture. of the counties in the United States lack even oneThere is a shortage, nationwide, of trained mental health provider. behavioral health professionals who possess the The U.S. Health Resources and Servicesknowledge and skills to meet the needs of individuals Administration (HRSA) tracks geographic areasand families from historically marginalized and health care facilities across the country that arebackgrounds, said Dr. Gemima St. Louis, associate designated as having a shortage of providers. As ofvice president for Workforce Initiatives and Specialty March 2021, an estimated 122 million Americans, orTraining and a faculty member in the Clinical 37 percent of the population, lived in an area with aPsychology Department.shortage of behavioral health professionals. In someThrough the Center for Workforce Development, states, as much as 80 percent of the population 91香蕉视频成人在线 is working to establish ais without access to mental health and substance reliable, continuous pipeline of trained professionals, use services. and paraprofessionals, to address existing gaps, but The behavioral health profession, itself, onlythis pipeline is more than just point-to-point move-recently started to acknowledge the workforcement. Like a Hydra, a pipeline can have branches crisis. This crisis, which Covino has called a Hydraextending in many directionsbut, unlike theof a problem, has many different headsaccess tomythical Hydra, when a pipeline is properly built, services, economics, training, and awareness.there is flow, and control, and a direction to the work.'