§ 1-5 — Findings

Illinois § 1-5

• Jurisdiction: Illinois
• Topic: HEALTH AND SAFETY
• Ch. 405: MENTAL HEALTH, BEHAVIORAL HEALTH, AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES
• Act 405 ILCS 145/: Ensuring a More Qualified, Competent, and Diverse Community Behavioral Health Workforce Act.

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The General Assembly finds that: (1) The behavioral health workforce shortage, already at dire levels before 2020, has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and is at a crisis point. (2) Behavioral health workforce shortages, particularly licensed clinical staff, staff turnover in all positions, and workforce development are major concerns in the behavioral health field. (3) By 2026, unfilled mental healthcare jobs in Illinois are expected to reach 8,353, according to Mercer's 2021 External Healthcare Labor Market Analysis. (4) Community-based mental health agencies often serve as training or supervision sites for interns and new entrants to the workforce seeking supervision hours to meet licensure requirements. These professionals are mandated to complete up to 3000 hours of supervised clinical experience. This places financial and time-resource hardships on these already lean organizations to provide the supervision. (5) Many new mental health clinicians have to pay an estimated $10,000-$30,000 in fees for supervision according to Motivo. The amount is unaffordable for many students, particularly lower-income students, who graduate with tens of thousands of dollars in debt. (6) Community mental health agencies frequently serve the most complex and chronically ill behavioral health clients, which can be a challenging population for new entrants to the workforce. Many times, professionals leave for better-paid opportunities with lower acuity patients after completing their facility-sponsored supervision requirements. (7) The lack of compensation for serving as a training or supervision site and staff turnover adversely impact the ability of agencies to better prepare the workforce and meet the needs of their behavioral health clients. (8) Recognizing and providing financial support for this function will help community-based agencies provide more training or supervision opportunities and may also assist with recruiting and retaining professionals at these sites. (9) Providing financial support for this role would help to address reductions in standard clinical productivity as a result of time spent supervising new workers, enabling better absorption of the costs of high turnover, or allowing for these settings to staff appropriately to support training or supervision. (10) For individuals seeking their licensure, roadblocks to supervision include cost-prohibitive fees, difficulty finding supervisors, and an even greater supervisor shortage in rural areas. (11) Beyond fulfilling the required hours to get licensed, clinical supervision has a profound impact on the trajectory of an individual's career and the lives of their clients. Ultimately, effective clinical supervision helps ensure that clients are competently served. (12) At a time when behavioral health providers report crisis level wait lists that force individuals seeking care to wait for months before they receive care, now more than ever, we need immediate solutions to help strengthen our State's behavioral health workforce.

Legislative History

(Source: P.A. 102-1053, eff. 6-10-22; 103-154, eff. 6-30-23.)