Objective 4.1

By 12/31/2019, support and enhance efforts to develop resiliency in the Douglas County behavioral health workforce measured by retention.

For additional information or to join the work group contact:
Region 6 Behavioral Healthcare
Patti Jurjevich, Regional Administrator
402-444-6534
pjurjevich@regionsix.com



Key Actions 

Status of Key Actions
Completed  In progress  Not Started 


             Resiliency training: 
 Identify or develop a wellness and resiliency training curriculum or organizational model that can be utilized by behavioral health training programs and organizations (2016-2017).

 Pilot the selected curriculum with behavioral health organization(2017-2018).

 Make the curriculum and/or organizational model available to the behavioral health community (2017-2018).


            Competency Development:
 Provide annual multi-disciplinary training on a selected behavioral health topic (e.g. cultural competency training (ongoing). 

 Develop training collaborative with a focus on the competency development needs of the unlicensed behavioral health workforce (2017).


            Retention Strategies:
 Identify and market new or existing educational resource(s) (i.e. BHECN toolkit) that organizations may access to develop organizational retention plans (2017). Toolkit can currently be accessed on the BHECN website. 

 Make available to organizations the results and lessons learned of local and national retention efforts. This may occur through the use educational materials, formal training sessions, webinars etc. (2018).

 Promote the use of a career ladder model for the unlicensed behavioral healthcare workforce (Best practices manual for unlicensed workforce career ladder is currently in development) 2016-2019.


            Value & Benefit of Workforce:
 Identify the existence of marketing support or expertise specific to all levels of behavioral health providers (2018). BHECN continues to market their behavioral health jobs search website and has an new interactive workforce dashboard to show status of the Behavioral health workforce.

 Develop a marketing campaign to promote the value of the behavioral health workforce (2017).

 Implement the campaign (2018-2019)


Lessons Learned

Quarter 2:

The Division of Behavioral Health statewide needs assessment identified that the majority of the BH workforce is unlicensed by that we have very little information about them. Much of the legislative and statewide focus is on the licensed, prescriber BH workforce.

Quarter 4:

Data from the UNMC Health Professional Tracking Service shows that from 2010 to 2015 there was a 17% increase in the licensed behavioral health workforce in Douglas County. This includes licensed prescribers (Psychiatrists, Nurse Practitioners, and Physician’s Assistants) and non-prescribers (LIMHPs, LMHPs, and Addiction’s Counselors). This type of data isn’t easily available for the unlicensed workforce.

Successes

Quarter 1:

BHECN determined they would collaborate on multi-disciplinary training's, and lead the charge to educate organizations on local and national retention efforts.

Region 6 provided some additional feedback on the action plan and confirmed they would lead in reporting efforts around objective 4.1 resiliency strategies.

Quarter 2:

Douglas County and the geographical Region 6 behavioral health area has an abundance of competency related training available to multiple fields and professionals related to behavioral health. There are also multiple collaborations between behavioral health and human service organizations to discuss workforce development needs. There are many resources already available related to staff retention, staff training, and general workforce development practices.

Quarter 4:

Douglas County and the geographical Region 6 behavioral health area has an abundance of competency related trainings available to multiple fields and professions related to behavioral health. There are also multiple collaborations between behavioral health and human service organizations to discuss workforce development needs. There are many resources already available related to staff retention, staff training, and general workforce development practices.

Challenges

Quarter 2:

It has been difficult to find resiliency curriculum specific to the behavioral health workforce. The committee continues to evaluate curricula that are more general and will be working with local and national resources to determine if something different will be developed. Organizational resources often limit staff accessibility to existing resources and opportunities. Douglas County continues to be identified as one of the few counties in Nebraska without a behavioral health workforce shortage. Various legislative initiatives may be developed that primarily benefit rural areas.

Quarter 4:

It has been difficult to find resiliency curriculum specific to the behavioral health workforce. Many smaller organizations don’t have dedicated training staff and providing and may have difficulty adding additional training requirements. 

Website Resources Related to Workforce Development


Behavioral Health Jobs: http://nebraskabehavioralhealthjobs.com/

College Behavioral Health Career Pathways: https://www.unmc.edu/bhecn/programs/ambassador-program/career-pathways.html

Behavioral Health Workforce Data & Dashboard: http://app1.unmc.edu/publichealth/bhecn/

Retention Toolkit & Resources: https://www.unmc.edu/bhecn/workforce/retention.html