Addressing San Diego’s behavioral workforce shortage
In 2021 the San Diego County Board of Supervisors called for action to address our behavioral health worker shortage. The San Diego Workforce Partnership met the call, assembling a steering committee of local leaders, analyzing labor market information, conducting focus groups, and surveying 1,600 behavioral health workers about their wages, job conditions, job satisfaction and more. Focus group members included community health workers, mental health and substance abuse social workers, psychiatric aides and more.
The most urgent finding: By 2027 the region will need to recruit 18,500 behavioral health professionals to the field—more than the entire current workforce of 17,000.
Accomplishments
- Awarded $5M from the State of California to expand our Substance Use Disorder Counseling Program
- Awarded $5M from Assemblymember Brian Maienschein to build career pathways for peer support specialists
- Awarded $1.15M from the CA Workforce Development Board to create equitable social work pathways at community colleges
- On October 11, 2022, Chair Fletcher recommended creation of Behavioral Health Impact Fund to ensure funds are quickly deployed
- On October 11, 2022, Chair Fletcher and Supervisor Lawson-Remer directed the County to advance the comprehensive strategy, including advancing the five key recommendations within the report
Report and Recommendations
We developed recommendations to address the underlying issues and increase retention and hiring of this critical workforce. Recommendations include paying workers more, helping them afford training, reducing the documentation burden, establishing regional training centers of excellence and more.
Executive Summary 
Behavioral Health Workforce Symposium
We shared our findings and recommendations at the Behavioral Health Workforce Symposium. There were also panels and discussions led by community stakeholders from the County, educational institutions and employers. You can watch the full symposium now.
This groundbreaking report is a bold call to action to address this critical need.
- San Diego Union Tribune: Report Recommends $128 Million “down payment” to train thousands more mental healthcare workers in San Diego
- CBS 8: More than 18K behavioral health workers needed in San Diego County
- CBS 8: Behavioral health worker shortage affects San Diego region and beyond
- NBC: San Diego County Short 8,000 Mental Health Professionals
- ABC 10: Meeting Demand: How San Diego Plans to Hire More Behavioral Health Workers
- ABC 10: San Diego needs nearly 20k more behavioral health workers by 2027, report says
- KPBS: Behavioral health employment needs explosive growth to keep up with demand
- Times of SD: Behavioral Health in SD Region Needs 18,500 Workers
- State of Reform: San Diego behavioral health workforce faces significant shortages and lower wages than other regions
“Some of what this report says might seem shocking. The sheer size of the necessary growth in workforce sets a massively ambitious target. But we have to be ambitious if we want behavioral health to be what it should be: on at least equal footing with the rest of healthcare. This report is an anchor for work that will transform behavioral health in San Diego County.”
– Luke Bergmann, Director of County Behavioral Health Services
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