About

Welcome to the Illinois Behavioral Health Workforce Center (BHWC). The BHWC will increase access to effective behavioral health services through coordinated initiatives to recruit, educate, and retain professionals in behavioral health. Opportunities and information will be available to those looking to further or begin a career in behavioral health across a broad range of professions.

BHWC initiatives will increase access and quality of prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation services for individuals with mental health conditions and substance use disorders. State agencies, state universities, community colleges, K-12 organizations, mental health providers, and behavioral health provider associations and organizations will partner to build, support, and strengthen the behavioral health workforce of the future.

Primary Goals

The Behavioral Health Workforce Center will strengthen the behavioral healthcare system in Illinois by achieving the following:

Assess the shortage and needs of the behavioral health workforce across the state on an on-going basis to provide information on areas with the most critical need.
Increase the number and diversity of behavioral health workers, including individuals with lived expertise, social workers, counselors, psychologists, psychiatrists, and other mental health professionals providing effective behavioral health services across the state.
Identify and address barriers to behavioral health care workforce recruitment, training, and retention.
Increase quality of care through support for training initiatives.
Increase access to services by increasing the capacity of providers to address behavioral health and substance use needs in primary health care settings through effective telehealth services and in non-traditional settings.

Core Principles

The Behavioral Health Workforce Center and consortium of higher education partners will be innovative, collaborative, and sustainable. Together, the lead hubs and member institutions will support:

Building and retaining a competent, diverse workforce that:
- Provides developmentally appropriate, evidence- and trauma-informed care.
- Provides high-quality and culturally and linguistically appropriate services tailored to the needs of local communities.
- Uses a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Racial Justice (DEIRJ) lens and promotes social and racial justice in health care.
- Understands the social determinants of health and empowers individuals to consider these social determinants of health when it comes to their own well-being.
- Increases access to care for communities across all regions of Illinois.
- Provides comprehensive services from prevention to treatment of clinical diagnoses and inclusive of both substance use and mental health issues.
Data-informed analysis and decision-making about state, regional, and community needs for clinicians, hospitals, and clinics.
Voice for individuals with lived expertise via person-centered, family-driven, and youth-guided care.
Innovative use of technologies to provide access to behavioral health care and education.
Providing transparent, aligned pathways for recruitment, retention, and advancement from high school through graduate-/professional-level education to support competency-based career growth, with a particular focus on increasing the diversity of the workforce.
Providing enhanced access to educational and training opportunities to support career growth through a consortium of public and private institutions across all regions of the state that work collectively.

HISTORY

During the spring 2018 legislative session, a bipartisan group of 10 legislators sponsored resolution House Resolution 711, which declared that Illinois is suffering from a behavioral healthcare workforce emergency. The resolution declaring a workforce emergency was unanimously adopted by House lawmakers.

During that session, the Illinois General Assembly passed House Bill 5111 (Public Act 100-0767) creating the Illinois Behavioral Health Workforce Act and the Illinois Behavioral Health Education Center Task Force signed into law on August 10, 2018.

In the spring of 2019, the Illinois General Assembly passed Senate Bill 1165 (Public Act 101-0202) amending the legislation to add data collection and a repository of information in support of the Behavioral Health Workforce Act and Behavioral Health Education Task Force. It was signed into law by Governor J.B. Pritzker on August 2, 2019.

Inspired by the Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska (BHECN), which was created in 2009 to build a pipeline for behavioral health professionals and to anchor research and education for behavioral health workforce development, the Illinois General Assembly charged the task force with studying:

Need for data on the shortage of providers of different types in different regions of the state
Need to increase behavioral health workforce providers across a range of underserved areas, including rural and high-need urban settings
Increasing access to effective training and support for behavioral health providers, including mechanisms to support use of evidence-based interventions and for uncredentialed workers to have meaningful professional accreditation and growth
Increasing access to psychiatry services, particularly for children but also across the lifespan, by increasing access through primary care and extender providers
Improving access to high quality services through improved telehealth services
Increasing internship and residency opportunities in rural areas across disciplines, with a high need for more psychiatry residents in these areas
Increasing access to care by supporting development of integrated behavioral health care, where clients can receive mental and substance abuse services at the same location as they receive primary care

Throughout 2019, the task force held monthly video conference and teleconference calls to receive input from stakeholders, examine data collected and discuss strategies and recommendations. The task force recommendations were released on December 27, 2019 and included a recommendation for the creation of a Behavioral Health Workforce Center.

In a major effort to expand health equity across Illinois, Governor JB Pritzker signed the Health Care and Human Services Reform Act into law in 2021. The legislation, which represents the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus’ health care pillar, took sweeping action to address health inequities and social determinants of health. The law established new health programs, increased oversight and trainings, builds out Community Health Worker certification, and established the Behavioral Health Workforce Center.

PARTNERS

The Behavioral Health Workforce Center is funded by the Division of Mental Health at the Illinois Department of Human Services and administered by the Illinois Board of Higher Education, and in partnership with the Illinois Community College Board and the Illinois Student Assistance Commission. Using a hub and spoke model, the BHWC is physically structured with Southern Illinois University School of Medicine (SIU SOM) contracted as the primary hub and the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) contracted as the secondary hub. While each hub provides specific functions for the BHWC, the lead hubs work closely and collaboratively together.

The BHWC will coordinate with key state agencies involved in behavioral health, workforce development, and higher education to tap into diverse resources from health care, workforce, and economic development programs in Illinois government. These agencies will, at a minimum, include the state agencies, mental health providers, educational institutions (colleges, universities, K-12), workforce investment boards and other community-based organizations.

BHWC Leadership

KARI WOLF, MD

Professor and Chair, Department of Psychiatry, SIU School of Medicine
CEO, Behavioral Health Workforce Center (BHWC)

SONYA LEATHERS, PHD

Professor, Jane Addams College of Social Work, University of Illinois Chicago
Director, Behavioral Health Workforce Center (BHWC)

The BHWC collaborates with its Executive Committee, Advisory Council, and multiple provider advisory groups to ensure effective and inclusive leadership.