BHECN's 2024-2025 Legislative Report explores the power of connection in behavioral health
Behavioral health conditions are uniquely isolating. They can sever our ties to emotions, to our sense of self, to others, and even to reality. As behavioral health providers, we often find ourselves absorbing this disconnection—carrying the emotional weight of our patients’ experiences while navigating the challenges of our own professional isolation. 
I experienced this firsthand during my first year of practice. Working in an outpatient setting, I often ended my day having spoken only to patients. The nature of our work—deeply personal, often painful, and bound by confidentiality—made it difficult to share with friends or family. I was fortunate to find a peer support group, but that connection was something I had to seek out on my own. There was no system in place to ensure I didn’t feel alone.
At the Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska (BHECN), we believe that connection is not just a value—it is the foundation of our work and of The Nebraska Model – the comprehensive system we use to help carry out our mission of growing Nebraska’s behavioral health workforce.
Our work is about people. It’s about relationships. And we believe that by fostering connection—among providers, across institutions, and throughout the behavioral health system—we can amplify our collective voice and create a stronger, more resilient future for Nebraska.
In the stories below, we explore how the six components of the Nebraska Model connect students to careers in behavioral health, trainees with opportunities to gain licensure, professionals to resources that help them thrive in their careers, policymakers and state leaders with data that helps inform sound behavioral health policies, and the community at large with a stronger, more prepared behavioral health workforce.
Many of the initiatives and programs discussed in this report have emerged over the past two years and are the result of the Legislature’s 2022 decision to increase our budget and prioritize strengthening our state’s behavioral health workforce.
It is a privilege to do the work we do at BHECN to have the opportunity to showcase it in this publication. We hope you will enjoy learning how your support of BHECN helps strengthen our behavioral health workforce, which improves the lives of so many who call our great state home.
Marley Doyle, MD
BHECN Director