2022 advocacy expanded edition

A ccording to an October 2021 survey by the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, 97% of behavioral health providers reported it has been difficult to recruit employees and 82% said it has been difficult to retain employees. Providers not only do not have the staff to meet the growing need, but they also are struggling just to sustain pre-pandemic capacity levels. The impacts on service delivery are very direct, with 62% of providers indicating that their waitlists had grown over the previous three months. The evidence of this reality can be found in every corner of New Jersey at every level of care. Children’s Mobile Response and Stabilization programs have seen months of record numbers of referrals and dispatches while programs report having staff vacancies in the double digits that they are unable to fill. While the Great Resignation and other impacts of the pandemic have affected all industries, the community-based behavioral health field, with its low wages and highly stressful and demanding work, was facing a workforce crisis before COVID hit. Informal surveys of providers indicate that many licensed clinicians have left to establish private practices, while others have taken positions at schools, in the courts and elsewhere where wages are significantly higher and beyond what community-based providers are able to offer. NJAMHAA has also heard directly of growing waitlists and of no available beds or day program slots due to insufficient staffing. Outpatient and residential programs; adult, youth and children’s services; screening centers and housing supports – all are struggling to meet the increasing demand. Staff who have been providing services throughout the pandemic are now carrying larger caseloads and more responsibilities. They are exhausted and are underpaid for their stressful, demanding, life-saving work. Providers, to the extent possible, have offered sign-on and retention bonuses, flexible hours, free supervision, tuition reimbursement, support for obtaining licensure and more with little to no success in maintaining previous staffing levels, and even these measures are not fiscally sustainable with current funding levels. 5 The Behavioral Health Workforce Is Insufficient to Meet Current Demand