Virginia is currently facing an unprecedented behavioral health workforce shortage. According to Mental Health America’s Ranking the States report, Virginia ranks 41st in availability of the behavioral health workforce, and the pandemic has only made matters worse. A report released last year from the Virginia Healthcare Foundation indicates that the state has not been training and retaining enough mental health professionals and services to meet our needs for years.
Comprehensive strategies to expand the behavioral health are a major need, and have been identified as a priority in the latest MAPP2Health report. Both state and federal agencies have begun to develop programs to address these workforce needs, but more are needed. A few key initiatives to know are listed below.
- The Virginia Department of Health’s Office of Health Equity is offering a new Behavioral Health Loan Repayment Program to increase access to quality health care providers in areas experiencing a shortage of mental health professionals.This loan repayment program helps to repay a portion of eligible behavioral health professionals’ student loan debt if they practice in Virginia for at least 2 years at an eligible site. Region Ten and other Community Service Boards, correctional facilities, and Federally Qualified Health Centers are eligible worksites for the program, and priority is given to professionals of color, and multi-lingual providers. Applications open on October 1 each year.
- For people thinking about a career as a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner (PNP), the Virginia Health Care Foundation provides full scholarships to nurse practitioners who want to become a PNP by completing a post-Masters certificate program. Scholarships require the recipients to practice as a Psych NP in Virginia’s healthcare safety net for two years after graduating and obtaining their credentials. To learn more, email VHCF’s Program Manager at PsychNP@vhcf.org.
- Virginia Healthcare Foundation’s Boost 200 program is a new initiative designed to pay for licensure-required Supervision for motivated Masters-prepared Social Workers and Counselors to help them become LPCs or LCSWs in Virginia. Preference will be given to applicants practicing in a Mental Health Professional Shortage Area, or people of color or those who are bilingual.