A growing number of states are establishing Behavioral Health Workforce Centers (BHWCs) to develop data-driven insights and strategies to address chronic behavioral health workforce shortages, geographic maldistribution, and gaps. With structured partnerships between academic institutions, state agencies, and other workforce development entities, these centers aim to expand training capacity, align workforce strategies with state needs, and build a pathway of qualified professionals tailored to state and regional priorities.
In some states, BHWCs are established through legislation; others are launched and sustained through federal or philanthropic grants and multi-sector collaboration with community partners, nonprofits, and others. These centers help states collect and use workforce data, develop targeted education and training programs, and promote interdisciplinary, evidence-based care. This brief explores how states can structure, fund, and scale BHWCs, and includes examples from Florida, Illinois, and Nebraska.
What Are Behavioral Health Workforce Centers?
While each state has its own definitions, this analysis defines Behavioral Health Workforce Centers (BHWCs) as state-commissioned, funded, or endorsed entities that address state behavioral workforce challenges through research, training, and policy collaboration. These centers help states identify behavioral workforce needs, identify and test innovative strategies, and support sustainable pathways into behavioral health professions, with the overarching objective to improve access to quality and sustainable behavioral health services statewide.
As of 2025, at least 11 states have established such centers through legislation or as part of broader state workforce strategies. Table 1 provides a snapshot of state examples including their authority, funding sources, and areas of focus.
Common Goals of State Behavioral Health Workforce Centers
State BHWCs often share similar goals and implement targeted activities to achieve them:
- Identify and Analyze Workforce Needs: Collect and examine data on workforce shortages, distribution, and capacity through surveys, research, and analysis of rates and licensure processes. Tools such as interactive dashboards, including Illinois’ interactive dashboard and job board and Florida’s legislative interim report interactive map and supply and demand graph provide real-time trend tracking, projections, and local, regional, and state insights.
- Develop Strategic Workforce Plans and Policy Recommendations: Use data to inform strategic plans, guide statewide workforce alignment, and propose policy or regulatory changes. Massachusetts, for example, is conducting comprehensive studies on behavioral health service rates and licensure to inform future policy.
- Strengthen Academic and Health System Partnerships: Many centers that are housed in universities or colleges with established partnerships with health systems and providers enable them to build robust educational pipelines and clinical training opportunities that align with workforce demand. Some, like Georgia, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Washington, use this model to directly integrate academic programs with training and resources linked to state priorities and workforce needs.
- Convene Stakeholders and Lead Partnerships: Convene state agencies, educational institutions, providers, and community groups to co-develop workforce solutions and publish legislative or strategic reports that track progress and guide future investments (e.g., Nevada’s BHWC is required to publish annual reports for the governor and legislature).
- Support Training, Credentialing, and Licensure: Provide professional development, supervision, and continuing education to ensure a well-prepared workforce. Some states provide direct supports, such as Nebraska’s center-funded and issued Lifelong Learning Fund, Mentoring Program, and Graduate Training Stipend Program, and New Hampshire “Career Pathways” for peer paraprofessionals, to guide individuals into the field.
How States Structure Behavioral Health Workforce Centers
States have taken different routes to stand up BHWCs through legislation or regulation. Many of the models share common features that can help other states consider what is essential, what is adaptable, and where early decisions have the biggest impact on long-term sustainability. The following components consistently emerge across states:
- Partnerships: Many BHWCs are structured as partnerships between public agencies, universities, and healthcare providers, often coordinated through a formal consortium model that distributes leadership and responsibility.
- Funding: States use a mix of funding sources including state general funds, federal grants (such as HRSA funding or SAMHSA awards), or other sources of state revenue to jump-start, sustain, and scale BHWCs.
- Governance: Implementing clear governance structures enable BHWCs to align resources, guide system-wide workforce development, and promote shared leadership. BHWCs utilize these frameworks to align strategic development and scope of work.
- Accountability: Most BHWCs report to multiple stakeholders, often through statutory reporting requirements to the legislature or designated oversight bodies, and operate within clear reporting structures. States commonly use strategic plans, annual reports, and budget reviews to guide analyses, monitor progress, and maintain alignment across workforce initiatives.
Partnerships Driving Workforce Solutions
Most states have taken the approach of housing BHWCs within academic institutions to serve as conveners for the potential range of stakeholders. While not always mandated in statute, multi-stakeholder collaboration and partnerships are a common feature encouraged through legislative language or funding requirements to ensure cross-sector alignment and share responsibility.
For example, Nevada’s AB 37 authorized the creation of a statewide BHWC within the Nevada System of Higher Education, directing it to coordinate pathway development, reduce licensure delays, and map workforce needs in partnership with the Department of Health and Human Services and other state agencies. In Florida, Georgia, New Hampshire, and Ohio, academic institutions lead the centers with state guidance on focus areas for research and data collection.
In Ohio, the Center of Excellence for Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health, housed at Case Western Reserve University, serves as a strategic partner to a collection of state agencies, including the Departments of Mental Health and Addiction Services, Medicaid, Job and Family Services, Youth Services, Developmental Disabilities, Health, as well as Ohio Family and Children First to support the state’s children’s initiatives and workforce. Colorado enacted SB 292 in 2025 to launch a new child-focused Workforce Capacity Center managed by the Behavioral Health Administration and housed within the community college system, establishing a pipeline strategy grounded in academic access.
Massachusetts has taken a distinct approach by housing its Behavioral Health Workforce Center within the Health Policy Commission (HPC), an independent agency authorized by the legislature and established in collaboration with the Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) to work on improving the affordability of health care for all state residents. As such, the BHWC work is supported by broader data and analytics capacity at the HPC and allows input to state government with a degree of independence.
Funding Mechanisms: How States Develop Sustainability
Many state BHWCs, such as those in Georgia, Florida, Illinois, and Massachusetts, Nevada, and Washington, are funded through state general funds to support behavioral health workforce development.
Illinois’ Behavioral Health Workforce Education Center (BHWC) is directly funded by the Illinois Department of Human Services’ Community Services Fund, with partial funding by the Illinois Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act (CRTA) of 2019 that allocates 20 percent of remaining cannabis tax revenue to address substance abuse and mental health needs.
In New Hampshire, BHWC activities are supported through federal funding. The state received funding through a cooperative agreement with HRSA to establish the NH Behavioral Workforce Center at Dartmouth Health, a collaboration between regional stakeholders that focuses on the development of rural behavioral health peer support workforce pathways.
Washington made a major investment in behavioral health workforce development, establishing a BHWC in 2024, as part of a long-term strategy for behavioral health system transformation. ESSB 5200, passed in April 2023, reappropriated $244 million in capital funds, including over $23 million from the general fund, for the University of Washington and Department of Health Services to support the behavioral health teaching facility. This includes faculty and physician support, staff training and facility launch, and ongoing operations and maintenance.
Convening Bodies & Stakeholder Governance
Massachusetts exemplifies how formal governance structures can institutionalize stakeholder input in workforce planning. The law requires the state to establish a behavioral health advisory commission, comprised of 31 members who are responsible for making recommendations on the disbursement of funds from a Behavioral Health Trust Fund and selected through formal procurement. Separately, the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission (HPC) Behavioral Health Workforce Center (BHWC) established an Advisory Group composed of providers, payers, and consumer advocates. It utilized a formal application process to compose the membership, tailored to include clinical leaders, research experts, and higher education partners to prioritize an evidence-informed approach to strengthening and diversifying the behavioral health workforce. The Advisory Group also serves as a liaison to the field, ensuring ongoing communication between policymakers and frontline systems.
Accountability through Reporting and Metrics Data
Legislatively mandated reporting requirements are used to ensure accountability and utility toward workforce solutions while promoting transparency. In Illinois, Nevada, and Washington, centers are mandated to provide annual or biennial reports on their progress, recommendations, and future implications. Colorado’s Workforce Capacity Center issues quarterly reports to the Joint Budget Committee, detailing metrics such as startup milestones, the volume and types of trainings delivered, certifications earned, Medicaid enrollment of trained providers, and practice locations. Based on these results, the state must submit a comprehensive impact assessment by 2027, with a recommendation on whether to continue or sunset the Center.
States like Florida, Illinois,and Massachusetts are increasingly requiring BHWCs to collect and analyze actionable data to help guide policy and workforce investments. Illinois provides targeted metrics such as systematic tracking of the behavioral health workforce, identifying priority geographies and occupations for recruitment, assessing the credentialing and reimbursement processes, and monitoring behavioral health condition incidents to better estimate unmet needs.
A National Model: UNC-Chapell Hill Behavioral Health Workforce Center
In North Carolina, the Behavioral Health Workforce Research Center at the Sheps Center (UNC-Chapel Hill) (UNC-BHWRC) plays a critical national role in supporting the behavioral health workforce. Funded by HRSA and SAMHSA, UNC-BHWRC serves as a leading hub focused on the workforce of delivery of mental health and substance use services. It aims to address disparities that contribute to poor access, treatment, and quality of care. Through its research, the center develops evidence-based insights to inform policies that support workforce development, improve training pipelines, and align licensure requirements with the changing needs of the behavioral health sector. UNC-BHWRC conducts comprehensive analyses of national workforce data to evaluate the adequacy, composition, and distribution of the workforce while exploring models of service delivery, particularly in underserved and rural areas.
UNC-BHWRC also participates in a nationwide consortium program sponsored by the National Center for Health Workforce Analysis (NCHWA) and SAMHSA. Through this program, the center collaborates with state Departments of Health and Human Services, universities, and provider networks across the country.
State Examples
Nebraska
Nebraska’s Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska (BHECN), established through the Legislature in 2009 (LB603) and updated in 2021 (LB1068), is the longest standing state funded workforce center dedicated exclusively to behavioral health. Initially focused on expanding access to psychiatric care, BHECN began with a clear mandate at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) by an initial state appropriation of $1.4 million dollars for FY 2009-10 and the legislatively created Behavioral Health Workforce Cash Fund. Supported by continued state investment, federal funding, and additional $25.5 million ARPA funding, it has since grown into a statewide initiative with six regional training sites and more than 20 affiliated academic partner locations, supporting the full spectrum of behavioral health professions across the state with varied focus areas, including community-engaged work. BHECN’s East Site, located at University of Nebraska Omaha’s (UNO) College of Public Affairs and Community Service, partners with community partners such as the Omaha Public School district to create workforce pathways into behavioral health to meet the needs of the surrounding community.
Through strong legislative support, strategic partnerships with academic institutions and health systems, and formalized governance structures, BHECN has built a coordinated, data-informed approach to workforce development. Since its inception, Nebraska’s workforce has grown by 49 percent since 2010, including a 24 percent increase in rural counties, attributed to BHEC-led and -disseminated initiatives supported through a mix of state and federal funding — including stipends, scholarship programs, and a robust behavioral health workforce data dashboard — that target persistent challenges like workforce management, supervision gaps, and pipeline limitation. These include:
- Rural-focused training, such as the Frontier Area Rural Mental-Health Camp and Mentorship Program (FARM CAMP) and Graduate Trainee Stipend Program,
- The BHECN Mentoring Program and BHECN Scholars, established as part of its Behavioral Health Workforce Pipeline Model to connect students directly to behavioral career pathways, mentors, and programs, and
- Additional investment in fostering behavioral health workforce development through the Behavioral Health Workforce Alliance.
Illinois
Launched in 2023 under the 2021 Health Care and Human Services Reform Act, the Illinois Behavioral Health Workforce Education Center (IBHWEC) is led by the Illinois Board of Higher Education in partnership with Illinois Department of Human Services/Division of Mental Health, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine (SIU SOM) and the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). It has a $5 million annually funded budget. Serving as a statewide hub, IBHWEC coordinates with state agencies, educational institutions, and providers to recruit, train, and retain a diverse behavioral health workforce.
Its hub and spoke model include delineated responsibilities between SIU SOM and UIC-targeted regional workforce development hubs to build career pipelines in tandem from high school through higher education, where they focus on infrastructure and data collection and training initiatives, respectively. SIU SOM serves as the primary hub, overseeing statewide infrastructure, governance, and coordination. It leads the Executive Committee, convenes a multi-sector Advisory Council, and manages tools like a county-level workforce data dashboard and a behavioral health jobs board. UIC functions as the secondary hub, focusing on data collection and reporting, training initiatives, and dissemination of evidence-based practices to strengthen behavioral health services across the state.
IBHWEC supports a variety of state initiatives to address workforce gaps and improve service equity across providers through:
- Implementing with advisory groups across five areas: Community Mental Health, Serious Mental Illness, CRSS/CPSS/Community Workers, Integrated Care, and Child, Adolescent, and Parent Services to provide insight into the center’s implementation of programs, dissemination of best practices, and key stakeholder engagement;
- Development of a Certified Recovery Support Specialist (CRSS) training program for employers; and
- Development of varied no-cost trainings for behavioral health providers, such as supervising training initiative and provision of virtual supervision groups.
Florida
Florida’s Behavioral Health Workforce Center (FCBHW) at the University of South Florida was established by SB 330 in 2024 as part of the “Live Healthy” initiative, a landmark legislative and state appropriation effort to elevate behavioral health on par with physical health in both policy and practice. Modeled after the Florida Center for Nursing, the FCBHW was created to strengthen Florida’s behavioral health system to meet the current and future workforce needs.
Its legislative mandate includes:
- Conducting biennial workforce analyses,
- Expanding education and career pathways,
- Developing strategies to address workforce gaps,
- Collaborating with Behavioral Health Teaching Hospitals to establish best practices data informed recommendations and reporting, and
- Convening stakeholders to guide statewide strategy.
Highlighted in its interim report, the center outlined plans to build a sustainable workforce, retain top talent, and foster innovation that supports providers and communities. The center is actively addressing critical workforce challenges through original research, mentorship programs with stipends spanning from high school through graduate education, and training initiatives to mitigate provider shortages and promote evidence-based practices. FCBHW also translates research and stakeholder input into policy recommendations that strengthen retention and improve access to care while engaging health systems, academic institutions, state agencies and community partners to align strategies.
Lessons for States
BHWCs provide a strategic and scalable approach to understand and address critical state-specific behavioral health workforce needs. BHWCs enable states to build capacity by anchoring efforts in data analysis, expanding training pipelines, and coordinating stakeholders around shared goals.
State interested in launching a BHWC may consider the following steps:
- Designate a Lead Institution: Identify an academic and/or agency partner to serve as the central hub for coordination, infrastructure, and oversight.
- Secure Legislative or Funding Support: Leverage federal funding, state resources, and/or public-private partnerships to launch and sustain the center.
- Establish a Governance Structure: Establish a multi-agency leadership committee and advisory body to provide expertise, guide strategic priorities, and ensure accountability.
- Develop Core Functions: Build foundational capabilities such as statewide workforce data collection and analysis, training program coordination, prioritize functions that directly address workforce gaps and demonstrate measurable impact.
As service demands rise, BHWCs provide a replicable and data-driven model for behavioral health workforce development tied closely to practice transformation and measurable outcomes.
Acknowledgments
This publication is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under the National Organizations of State and Local Officials as part of a three-year award. The information, content, and conclusions are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS, or the U.S. Government. For more information, please visit HRSA.gov.
