As California grapples with a massive shortage of behavioral healthcare workers, state lawmakers want to offer financial incentives in hopes of bringing in and retaining more professionals to improve access to mental health services in the state.
Senate Bill 964 by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) would offer $37,000 in stipends to students pursuing a master's degree in social work who go on to work in behavioral health at a public agency, while creating a state fund to increase pay and provide bonuses for licensed professionals already working in the field.
Wiener said the bill, which was introduced Wednesday as the Behavioral Health Workforce Revitalization Act, is an attempt to address staffing shortages that have led to long wait times for mental health treatment, particularly during the pandemic. With too few school counselors, therapists, psychiatrists, peer counselors and community health workers, supporters of the bill say people with mild symptoms are experiencing severe mental illness, while those in crisis continue to be cycled between emergency rooms, jails and city streets.
