FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Faith Boone
Phone: 216-302-8115
Email: [email protected]
Date: June 30, 2025
Mental Health & Addiction Advocacy Coalition Receives OhioMHAS Grant Launches Innovative Resources Addressing Ohio’s Behavioral Health Workforce Challenge
CLEVELAND, OH – The Mental Health & Addiction Advocacy Coalition (MHAC) announces the launch of two groundbreaking resources designed to strengthen Ohio’s behavioral health workforce: an interactive career pathways tool called BHEACON and a comprehensive Regional Behavioral Health Workforce Coalition (RBHWC) toolkit.
The MHAC received a $98,625 grant from the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OhioMHAS) as part of the department’s ongoing efforts to strengthen and grow Ohio’s behavioral health workforce. This funding will support the development and implementation of the Behavioral Health Education and Career Opportunities Navigator (BHEACON) and the RBHWC toolkit, addressing critical workforce shortages in Ohio’s behavioral health sector.
“We are thrilled to receive this grant funding, which will allow us to expand and enhance our workforce development initiatives,” MHAC Executive Director Joan Englund said. “Building on the successful cross-sector collaboration work the MHAC has helped develop in Southwest and Northeast Ohio, these new resources will help strengthen the behavioral health workforce pipeline across both regions and create a blueprint for similar success throughout the state.”
The MHAC team extends its gratitude to its partners in the RBHWC. MHAC Southwest Hub Director and Co-Chair of the Southwest Ohio RBHWC Meredith Poynter said, “Their commitment to designing and implementing strong workforce strategies makes a lasting impact in strengthening the behavioral health workforce that our communities depend on.”
BHEACON: A New Career Pathway Tool to Build the Behavioral Healthcare Workforce
BHEACON, the interactive career pathways tool, will serve as a centralized resource for individuals exploring careers in behavioral health, offering detailed guidance on career trajectories, educational requirements, and licensing pathways.
“The tool has been long in the making, and we are so grateful to OhioMHAS for giving us the resources to elevate it to the next level and launch it,” said Madelaine Matej MacQueen, Ph.D., Co-Chair of the RBHWC in Northeast Ohio.
Matej MacQueen, who is also the MHAC Northeast Hub Director, said navigating career pathways in behavioral health can be confusing, and even the design process for the tool felt overwhelming at times. She is confident that BHEACON will be an invaluable resource for job-seekers in the Ohio behavioral health field.
“At a big-picture level, the expanded tool will serve as a centralized resource to attract, educate, and retain talent,” Englund said. “It will help bridge workforce gaps by connecting job seekers with career pathways, training programs, and licensure steps, ultimately strengthening Ohio’s pipeline of qualified behavioral health professionals.”
Collaborating for Change: A Toolkit to Build Regional Behavioral Health Workforce Coalitions
The RBHWC toolkit titled, “Collaborating for Change: A Toolkit to Build Regional Behavioral Health Workforce Coalitions,” will empower regions across Ohio to establish and maintain effective workforce coalitions, providing structured guidance, best practices, and practical resources for building sustainable cross-sector partnerships that address local behavioral health workforce challenges.
Poynter said, for communities, this means stronger local pipelines and support for recruiting, training, and retaining behavioral health professionals – ultimately leading to more accessible and higher-quality care for Ohioans.
“It will also ensure that regional workforce solutions are tailored to local needs, helping both urban and rural areas strengthen their behavioral health systems,” Poynter said. “The toolkit will provide the guidance needed to strengthen cross-sector collaborations that will help expand workforce capacity statewide, creating a more cohesive, well-supported network of behavioral health professionals across Ohio.”
Resources Set to Launch this Summer
The MHAC was one of just 10 recipients that received this new investment from OhioMHAS to support projects focused on increasing career awareness, supporting recruitment and retention, and enhancing contemporary practice for Ohio mental health and substance use disorder professionals.
“The health and success of Ohio’s families and communities depend on a robust and knowledgeable behavioral healthcare workforce,” OhioMHAS Director LeeAnne Cornyn said in a release by the department announcing the mini-grants. “These grants are just another example of our commitment to supporting our community partners to strengthen and grow their workforce, amid increased demand for services.”
BHEACON and the RBHWC toolkit are accessible through the RBHWC website.
Interview opportunities with members of the MHAC, Northeast RBHWC, or Southwest RBHWC can be made available upon request. Please reach out to Faith Boone at [email protected] to schedule an interview.
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About the Mental Health & Addiction Advocacy Coalition (MHAC)
The Mental Health & Addiction Advocacy Coalition (MHAC) is a statewide nonprofit organization with a mission to foster education and awareness of mental health and addiction issues while advocating for public policies and strategies that support effective, well-funded services, systems and supports for those in need, resulting in stronger Ohio communities. Through advocacy, research, and coalition-building, the MHAC serves as a leader in addressing Ohio’s behavioral health workforce challenges. For more information, visit mhaadvocacy.org.
About the Regional Behavioral Health Workforce Coalitions
Each Regional Behavioral Health Workforce Coalition (RBHWC) is a community-driven, cross-sector collaboration created to address short-term and long-term behavioral health workforce development barriers. The coalitions’ goals are to increase support, build evidence, and lead the scale-up of best practices that build the behavioral health workforce that our regions need. The RBHWCs’ vision is that “Everyone in our region can access the quality behavioral health care they need because its workforce reflects the communities it serves, is culturally and linguistically competent, and has the capacity to meet everyone’s behavioral health needs.” For more information, visit buildbehavioralhealth.org.