Maximizing the impact of Oklahoma's allied mental health workforce

Oklahoma has significant shortages of licensed behavioral health providers, such as psychologists, social workers, and psychiatrists. Allied mental health professionals — such as peer recovery support specialists, behavioral health case managers, and others — can play an important role in expanding the reach of licensed providers and meeting the state’s rapidly growing behavioral health needs.

When allied mental health professionals' responsibilities reflect what they are uniquely trained to do, they play a role in improving patients’ outcomes and make it possible for licensed clinicians to work more effectively too.

But low wages and restrictive certification requirements can make it difficult for communities to recruit and retain these types of workers, and drifting responsibilities often do not reflect their training and expertise. In this report, we offer ways Oklahoma can improve pathways for people to start and grow in allied mental health careers as a way to improve the state’s treatment capacity and address workforce shortages.

Key takeaways

• Allied mental health professionals play key roles in Oklahoma’s behavioral health workforce, complementing and extending the work of licensed clinicians. Evidence has shown improved patient outcomes thanks to the work of peers and case managers, for example. But Oklahoma lacks enough of these types of workers, and their responsibilities often don’t fully leverage their training and expertise.
• Despite the importance of allied mental health professionals in the workforce, these roles often do not pay well. Addressing low wages will require raising reimbursement rates for the services peers, case managers, and other allied mental health roles provide.
• Oklahoma needs clearly defined educational and career pathways for allied mental health workers — both for those who want to advance into a licensed role and for those who want to grow their skills in an allied mental health role.
• Certification requirements limit the types of employers that peer recovery support specialists and behavioral health case managers can work for. Removing these restrictions would allow workers greater career mobility — and bring valuable experience and skills to a wider variety of behavioral health settings.
• Oklahoma will soon have a certification program for community health workers. As the state develops this program, Oklahoma should 1) tie certification requirements to criteria for Medicaid reimbursement and 2) consider creating a mental health track to support and prepare community health workers who want to work in behavioral health settings.