Cook County Health hosted a pivotal Behavioral Health Workforce Symposium on October 1, focusing on the urgent need to address workforce shortages in mental health services across the region. This event gathered more than 300 mental health professionals, community leaders, and elected officials to discuss workforce development challenges and strategies for improvement.

“Now, more than ever, it is critical that we come together to strategize ways to recruit more healthcare providers, and improve our collective delivery model in order to enhance access to care and eliminate the health inequities that have long been allowed to persist in our society,” said Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle.

The symposium, coordinated by Cook County Health Office of Behavioral Health and the Cook County Department of Public Health, centered around key findings from the newly released Cook County Behavioral Health Workforce Report.

Report findings include:

• The behavioral health workforce serving Cook County needs to increase by 50% to meet current needs.
• Nearly 30,000 more behavioral health professionals will be needed in Cook County by 2028.
• Black workers are underrepresented in among higher paying professions, and are over represented among lower paying professions. Hispanic workers are underrepresented across all professions.

“Collectively, we need to empower individuals to pursue careers in behavioral health and remove barriers that make getting into and staying in the workforce difficult. This is especially important for us to achieve equity in both clinical care and career opportunities,” said Dr. Erik Mikaitis, Interim CEO, Cook County Health.

Recommended strategies to address the regional workforce shortage outlined in the report include:

• Develop a $50 million regional behavioral health workforce fund to support “earn & learn” and other training opportunities.
• Increase exposure to behavioral health career opportunities starting at the K-12 level.
• Maximize impact of current workforce by reducing documentation burden, investing in new technology, and integrating with primary care providers.

“The gap between the demand for and the supply of behavioral health workers is not going away and the problem is not going to solve itself,” said Dr. Tom Nutter, Chief Behavioral Health Officer, Cook County Health Office of Behavioral Health. “When solving problems, it helps to have data and an evidence-informed plan.”

Disparities in behavioral health conditions, including depression, substance use and suicide, disproportionately impact communities of color who have faced historic and persistent racism and marginalization.

“Today serves as an inflection point to address the supply and demand equation of Behavior Health workers. It’s not just a report, it’s data for action, data for power and data for change,” said Dr. LaMar Hasbrouck, Chief Operating Officer for Cook County Department of Public Health.

President Preckwinkle and the Cook County Board of Directors allocated $174M in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to Cook County Health to support health-focused initiatives, including holistic strategies to improve access to behavioral health care.

On February 15,  2024, Cook County Health held its first Behavioral Health Summit, bringing together health care and social service providers, mental health advocates, community leaders and elected officials to discuss how to improve access and care in Cook County.

Based on the needs identified through the summit, in June, Cook County Health awarded 53 community organizations, health care providers, and other non-profit groups a total of $44 million in ARPA-funded grants to support a range of mental health and substance use services including school-based care, crisis intervention, prevention, medication for addiction treatment, and comprehensive therapy.