The behavioral health profession needs explosive growth to keep pace with demand

A report commissioned by county leadership found the San Diego region needs to add more than 18,500 behavioral health professionals over the next five years to meet the community’s mental health and addiction treatment needs.

A San Diego Workforce Partnership report found that by 2027, the San Diego region will need those additional behavioral health workers to keep up with demand and population growth. It also offers some solutions to address the problem – establishing a $128 million workforce training fund and developing regional training centers.

“We’ve invested in new mental health and addiction treatment services at an unprecedented rate, but we’ve struggled to find enough trained behavioral health workers,” said County Supervisor Chairman Nathan Fletcher. “We need the right kind of staff to create a strong continuum of care that allows patients to receive the best treatment possible, and the behavioral system is currently very weak.

“With the information and recommendations in this report, our region now has a roadmap to grow and expand our workforce,” he said. To do this, we need the support of the private sector, non-profit organizations and government.

The report, “Addressing San Diego’s Behavioral Health Workforce Shortage,” highlights that by 2027, the San Diego region will need an estimated 27,600 additional behavioral health workers to meet unmet behavioral health needs to keep pace with population growth.

Based on employment trends, an estimated 7,800 behavioral health professionals in the area are expected to leave the profession by 2027. Starting with the approximately 17,000 employees in the field today, San Diego Region must educate, train, attract, hire and/or retain. 18,500 professionals between 2022 and 2027.

Luke Bergman, the county’s director of behavioral health services, said: “Some of what this report says may seem alarming. The necessary growth in the workforce sets a big target.” “But if we want behavioral health to be what it should be, we have to be ambitious: at least on par with the rest of health care.