NJAMHAA News - October 2021

October 2021 3 NJAMHAA values its partnerships to continually reinforce the behavioral healthcare worksforce and ensure access to critical services. Long before the pandemic, our behavioral health sector was facing a workforce crisis as recruiting and retaining staff with remuneration that was far inferior to that offered by the government, educational institutions and the private sector made it difficult to compete. Often clinical staff would work at our members’ organizations until they fulfilled their experiential requirements and had enough supervision to be licensed. Then, they would leave for higher salaries. With the advent of COVID-19, the workforce crisis exponentially escalated. Besides tenaciously advocating for the requisite higher rates and increases in contracts to enable our members to become competitive employers, NJAMHAA recently hosted a Membership Meeting featuring a roundtable discussion. In addition to providers, we had leaders from the New Jersey Business and Industry Association (NJBIA), a powerful advocate and partner that champions a competitive business climate for both for-profit and nonprofit organizations; Arudia, a firm dedicated to improving culture, collaboration and communication; and the Rutgers Center for Organizational Leadership share their insights into and strategies related to improved staff recruitment and retention. We will continue to discuss this critical matter in our practice group meetings (see page 35 for details on these groups and how to join), as well as with elected officials and leaders of state departments. In addition, we will hold more membership- wide discussions; participate in town halls and other events; and continue working closely with NJBIA and other stakeholders to reinforce our strategy and strengthen our impact through advocacy. These discussions will focus on both recruitment and retention. One key strategy for keeping staff on board is to increase their morale and reinforce the importance of self- care to help mitigate and prevent burnout. Not only acknowledging the extreme stress they are enduring, but also offering tools to cope with it, are essential for keeping staff intact and ensuring continuity of care for those who are served. Another important part of strengthening staff morale is ensuring that they have the tools to perform their jobs as effectively as possible. NJAMHAA and its Information Technology (IT) Project offer many services and training opportunities to meet these needs. Our staff ’s dedication to members has always been strong, and this has been especially evident during the pandemic. Please see details beginning on page 8 about the support that the IT Project provides and howmembers are benefiting from these services, especially since the pandemic began and remote connections became critical for all businesses. The pandemic, workforce crisis and other challenging situations certainly call for new models for operating our businesses. We developed our Fall Conference, No Going Back: Moving Forward in a NewParadigm, with this in mind. Please see page 24 for highlights of this event. We are grateful for the generous support of the conference sponsors: Mutual of America Financial Group, Ocean Partnership for Children, PerformCare New Jersey, Acenda Integrated Health, WeWork for Health New Jersey, New Jersey Innovation Institute, Bergen New Bridge Medical Center, Hackensack Meridian Carrier Clinic, Integrity House, The New Jersey Council on Developmental Disabilities and Oaks Integrated Care. NJAMHAA values its partnerships with members and leaders in the state and federal governments to continually reinforce the behavioral healthcare workforce and ensure access to the critical services they provide. With warmest wishes, Debra L. Wentz, PhD President and CEO From the Desk of Debra L. Wentz, PhD President and CEO