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Joanne Spetz of UCSF Institute for Health Policy Studies joins healthcare, civic and labor leaders on the Futuro Health Board of Directors.

The CA Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI) hosted the second public meeting of the Health Workforce Education and Training Council on July 12, 2022. The Council is responsible for helping coordinate California’s health workforce education and training, including investing $260M in new funding outlined in the Governor’s 2022-23 budget for initiatives and programs addressing the state’s behavioral health worker shortage.

Council members were joined by behavioral health leaders from across the state for the virtual session, which included an overview of the State of the Behavioral Health Workforce in California by Janet Coffman, PhD, MPP, MA, with the UCSF HealthForce Center, highlighting current health occupation data and the challenges facing the behavioral health workforce pipeline such as racial/ethnic and socio-economic differences.

The meeting concluded with a public comment session co-facilitated by Council Chair Sandra Baker, Dean, School of Nursing at Riverside Community College and Council Vice-Chair Van Ton-Quinlivan, CEO Futuro Health, soliciting participants for innovative ideas around ways the increased funding can increase the capacity and diversity of the behavioral health workforce over the next one to three years.

Public comments for the new funding encompassed suggestions on streamlining and funding prerequisites process, stacking credentials, financial aid expansion, standardizing training protocols for school counselors, and partnering more closely with non-traditional mental health care sites, including community health centers, to develop additional training and externship opportunities.

The complete meeting agenda and materials can be found here.

From an early age, Alicia knew she wanted to join the medical field. She started pre-med classes at UC Davis but soon learned she was pregnant. Even though she was unable to finish her studies-- the financial debt she acquired in the process lived on. To provide for her children and family, Alicia worked jobs that paid the bills but did not fuel her passion.

Alicia then started Futuro Health's tuition-free Medical Assistant program and says she felt that she got a second chance to do what she enjoys the most, helping people. After completing the program she has secured her dream job earning a steady paycheck with job security that pays her peace of mind.

"Futuro Health helped me secure my dream, my passion, and my love, without going into debt."

Futuro Health in the News

New Report on School, Work, and Durable Human Skills, Forbes

WorkforceRx Podcast

Listen to distinguished leaders in workforce development, higher education, and healthcare share their favorite insights and takeaways from the best-selling book, “WorkforceRx: Agile and Inclusive Strategies for Employers, Educators and Workers in Unsettled Times”.

Expert Insights Wanted - Behavioral Health Workforce

Futuro Health seeks comments or brief interviews with behavioral health experts on the importance of Peer Support Specialists to fill the needed gap in the behavioral health care continuum. If you would like to share your thoughts, please email Matt Wakely at mwakely@futurohealth.org.

About Futuro Health 

Futuro HealthFuturo Health is a non-profit organization focused on improving the health and wealth of communities by growing the largest network of allied healthcare workers in the nation.

Futuro Health makes education journeys into allied health careers possible by growing the talent that employers need and creating a path to opportunity that workers want.