Behavioral Health Workforce Implementation Support and Education Center

Challenge

There is an urgent need for well-prepared providers to support individuals with substance use disorders, mental illness, and other behavioral health problems. Yet there are existing and expected shortages in the behavioral health workforce. These shortages, combined with a lack of well-supported and evidence-based training programs, leave many people—particularly those living in rural and underserved areas—without the high-quality, life-saving services they need to be healthy.

To address this challenge, the Behavioral Health Workforce Implementation Support and Education Center (BHWISE), led by the University of Wisconsin with support from EDC, provides training and technical assistance (TA) to over 280 academic institutions and clinical centers that prepare future physicians, behavioral health professionals, and paraprofessionals. A major BHWISE partner, EDC is providing expertise on behavioral health, evaluation, grants management, and innovative approaches to addressing critical workforce issues such as recruitment and retention, community and partnership engagement, and program sustainability.

BHWISE is a continuation of the former Behavioral Health Excellence Technical Assistance Center, which EDC also supported.

Key Activities

EDC is carrying out the following activities:

• Conducting annual assessments of implementation supports needed by Health Resources and Service Administration behavioral health workforce development programs
• Supporting grantees in meeting key grant deliverables by providing ongoing evaluation support, convening communities of practice for new grant administrators, and developing interactive learning tools
• Designing and implementing ongoing monitoring and evaluation of TA Center processes and outcomes, as well as rapid cycle reporting to inform continuous quality improvement of TA activities and products

Our Impact

• Strengthen the capacity of HRSA’s behavioral health workforce development programs to implement and evaluate their HRSA grants, paying close attention to the differing needs of new and more seasoned program administrators
• Position the Center to respond quickly and appropriately to grantee needs and funder requests through the development of a robust data dashboard, measurement guides, and tracking tools
• Improve the effectiveness of technical assistance initiatives through ongoing evaluation and Center-wide adoption of continuous quality improvement practices
• Demonstrate how training and support efforts lead to real-world results, such as more people entering and staying in the behavioral health workforce, gaining needed skills, and serving communities with the greatest need