A new report forecasts a substantial shortage of qualified and diverse behavioral health professionals in California within 10 years, leaving minority patients and those outside major metropolitan areas especially underserved.
If nothing is done to fill the void by 2028, many people diagnosed with mental health conditions will struggle to get the medication and counseling they need, especially those who live in the Central Valley and Inland Empire, where the lack of qualified workers is worse, the researchers found.
“This affects everybody with a behavioral health condition, particularly those with severe mental illness,” said Janet Coffman, associate professor in policy at University of California-San Francisco and one of the authors of the report, “California’s Current and Future Behavioral Health Workforce.” (The research, released Monday, was funded by the California Health Care Foundation, which also publishes California Healthline.)
To those who work on the front lines of mental health, the shortages are already here and the time to act is now.
To read more of the California Healthline article, please click here.
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