In partnership with the Minnesota Association of Community Mental Health Programs (MACMHP) and the Minnesota Association of Resources for Recovery and Chemical Health (MARRCH), BHECON sponsored mental health-specific programming at the annual MARRCH/MACMHP conference in Saint Paul, Minnesota on October 29th through October 31st. Some of the key topics that were addressed included the behavioral health workforce shortage, Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs), creating new partnerships among key stakeholders and increasing access to mental health services.
Rebecca Farley David, Vice President of Policy & Advocacy at the National Council, served on a panel entitled “Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics in Rural and Frontier Regions of Minnesota,” co-presenting with two CCBHCs. The panel covered the impact of the CCBHC program across the country, state-led initiatives to expand CCBHCs, as well as progress made on a federal expansion. Panelists described examples of practice innovations that CCBHCs have implemented to improve access to health care in rural and frontier areas. On another panel titled “Past, Present, Future: The Evolution of Behavioral Health in Health Care,” panelists covered the evolving role of mental health and substance use in the nation’s health care system and shared how the National Council works to support providers in advocating for policies to strengthen the safety net, highlighting BHECON as the primary example of National Council state policy initiatives.
Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics in Rural and Frontier Regions of Minnesota
