The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #59426

Neal H Adams, MD MPH, California Department of Mental Health, 1600 9th Street #151, Sacramento, CA 95814, Michael Hoge, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Yale University, 25 Park St., Room 604, New Haven, CT 06519, (203) 785-5629, michael.hoge@yale.edu, and John A Morris, MSW, Department of Neuropsychiatry, University of South Carolina School of Medicine, PO Box 119, Columbia, SC 29202.

The Annapolis Coalition on Behavioral Health Workforce Education resulted from growing national concern about the relevance and effectiveness of efforts to train providers of mental health and addiction services. The Coalition was founded by the American College of Mental Health Administration and the Academic Behavioral Health Consortium in order to address five fundamental problems: (1) students completing graduate programs and residency training programs are not adequately trained to practice in the current healthcare environment; (2) practicing professionals receive neither effective continuing education nor the skills to employ emerging evidence-based models of practice; (3) bachelor-degreed and paraprofessional direct care providers are given minimal training in clinical interventions, even though they may have the most contact with people suffering serious disabilities; (4) consumers and family members are seldom offered training despite the enormous role that they play as primary caregivers, and (5) the public health perspective on the value of prevention, early identification and early intervention is honored in training programs more in word than deed. The Annapolis Coalition has sponsored a national dialogue on this issue and has released a comprehensive set of recommendations for reform. This presentation will begin with a detailed description of this public health crisis, in which scarce and declining resources are invested in a workforce that is inadequately trained. Best practices in workforce education will be identified, accompanied by specific examples of innovation. This national effort to accelerate reform in workforce education will be reviewed and instructions for linking with this initiative will be provided.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will be able to: 1.Identify four groups that comprise the behavioral health workforce.
• Describe at least four ways in which typical training programs have not kept pace with changes in health care delivery.
• Identify five best practices in behavioral health workforce education.
• Identify three strategies for promoting reform of workforce education nationally.

Keywords: Mental Health Care, Education

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.