Addressing the public mental health personnel crisis through systemic reform and public-academic linkages

Abstract

This article examines the personnel crisis in public mental health and proposes that improved public academic linkages combined with substantive changes at national, state, local, and university levels can provide a collective solution to this crisis. First, an overview of the problem is presented. For each of these four levels critical issues affecting the training of mental health professionals and suggested changes that would enhance the development of strong public-academic linkages are presented. Finally, Ohio is used as a case example of a state that developed a number of successful PAL initiatives in response to this human resource development crisis.