4C Health Commits to the Indiana Behavioral Health Workforce Playbook

The Bowen Center for Health Workforce Research & Policy recently released the Playbook for Enhancing Indiana’s Mental & Behavioral Health Workforce The Playbook | Bowen Health Workforce (bowenportal.org). The playbook outlines recommended strategies or “plays” that can be undertaken to bolster behavioral health workforce development, recruitment, and retention.

In order to bring the Playbook from vision to reality it requires that all players in the Hoosier state consider what part they can contribute to moving the ball down the field and into the end zone. It requires those that will champion “plays”.  A famous sports quote goes something like this: “Some people want it to happen, some people wish it would happen, others make it happen”. We must spur action within and across each other to make it happen.

4C Health is a North Central Indiana certified Community Mental Health Center, Psychiatric Inpatient Hospital, Crisis Stabilization Unit, Mobile Crisis, and Primary Care provider. 4C Health is also one of eight pilot organizations for Indiana’s Certified Community Behavioral Health Center Demonstration. We serve over 9,000 individuals across 14 counties annually with a workforce of over 420 individuals. The need in our rural communities is so great and the critical factor in our ability to meet that need is workforce.

As such, 4C Health commits to achieving the following plays below in alignment with the Playbook’s outlined strategies. Some of these are implementable more immediately and others will take time. Some of these we can do as an organization and others will require us to develop partnerships within our communities.

I hope our transparent and public commitment to these Playbook strategies spurs others to do the same. Together we can be industry transforming!

·         Increase the minimum number of behavioral health students trained (practicums, clinicals, internships across all disciplines) at 4C Health to 50 annually.

·         Expanding the Peer Workforce from 12 to 30 peers employed by 4C Health

·         Expanding our existing Masters Practicum/Internship Program to up to 15 slots annually

·         Ensure the 4C Health Master’s training programs are stipend or paid programs for students

·         Moving our Associate/Bachelors shadowing program to a no slot limit annually

·         Implement a Doctoral Psychology Practicum program in Fall of 2024—6 slots available annually at 4C Health

·         Develop an APA- approved psychology internship and post-doctoral program overseen by 4C Health

·         Collaborate with our local community college to develop a paraprofessional/case manager pathway/ registered apprenticeship

·         Implement a competency-based model for Supervision of the Clinical Supervisors

·         Bolster our existing 4C Health policy around the requirements and benchmarks for who can become a Clinical Supervisor at 4C Health and the continuing education expectations around supervision practice for those individuals

·         Collaborate with surrounding Master’s level Higher Education programs about opportunities to partner as our communities in North Central Indiana fall in a “training desert”

·         Continue and expand our 4C Health Ivy Tech student Scholarship for Kokomo Region to promote and support those students choosing a human services degree

·         To continue our self-funded 4C Health Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) and Loan Repayment Program (LRP) for our existing workforce seeking to further their behavioral health related education and career

·         Develop a Pre-Med College student Psychiatric shadowing program and a Psychiatric Nurse shadowing program for Students considering nursing as a profession

·         Collaborate with local residency programs to provide the ability for all developing physicians committed to rural practice in our region to receive psychiatric practice experience so as to behaviorally enhance their chosen medical practice.

·         Knowing that 4C Health has staff embedded in over 43 schools corporations and over 180 school buildings, seek to collaborate with our existing school partners on opportunities for middle school education/exposure on behavioral health professions and pathways.

·         To be market-leading in competitive wages and affordable benefits for ALL behavioral health workforce under our 4-day work week model.

·         And, finally, as a state and national leader in the practice of 4 day work week (ie working 32 hours but being paid for 40), 4C Health will eliminate the 40 hour work week at our organization for the health and well-being of all our staff.

Now let’s get to work!

Respectfully,

Carrie Cadwell

CEO/President

4C Health