NJAMHAA FY23 Advocacy Campaign

All of New Jersey’s Diverse Residents Deserve Timely, Accessible, Appropriate, Culturally Informed, Quality Behavioral Health Care So many of New Jersey’s rich multicultural population, negatively impacted by COVID, have been left in need of mental health and/or substance use treatment and supports from a system that never had the capacity to treat previous demand levels. The ongoing workforce crisis exacerbates the difficulty in meeting current demand and requires significant investment to build and sustain the partners in care who offer the vital services and supports that open doors to recovery for the children, youth and adults of our diverse state. Elaina, Favio, Stephanie and others you will meet in the following pages have all had the good fortune to access a caseworker, a peer or a clinician with whom they have been able to begin and sustain their paths to recovery and well-being. But, we now find New Jersey’s community-based behavioral health workforce at a breaking point. New Jersey must provide investments that enable providers to offer competitive wages and recruitment and retention bonuses; fix the licensing backlog; and support tuition reimbursement policies. Sustainability can be ensured by raising rates and contracts to cover the actual costs of care, then indexing them to keep up with inflation. Behavioral health services – and the staff who deliver them – have profound, powerful, positive effects on individuals’ lives. Without a significant investment in the behavioral health workforce – the partners in care such as Sonia, Adiba and Amy– others like Lucia, Illias and Julio will not be able to access the services they need and deserve to live their healthiest and most fulfilling lives possible. 3 H   Without significant investment in the behavioral health workforce, Elaina and others will not be able to access services they need and deserve to live healthy and fulfilling lives.