Behavioral Health Workforce Research Group

Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska (BHECN) is dedicated to improving access to behavioral health care across the state of Nebraska by developing a skilled and passionate workforce: BHECN.  BHECN’s Behavioral Health Workforce Research Group conducts research studies to understand the retention and recruitment issues as well as workforce supply and demand for behavioral health providers. 

Project Examples:

• Behavioral Health Workforce Dashboard: BHECN Dashboard
• BHECN Legislative Reports: Nebraska Legislative
• Telehealth Report: Telehealth
• Barriers and Promoters of Direct Care Workers: Direct Care
• Digital Navigation Training: DigitalNavigation

To know more about these projects, contact:

Dr. Shinobu Watanabe-Galloway at swatanabe@unmc.edu

Peer-Reviewed Article Examples:

1. Adams E, Watanabe-Galloway S, Mogens BB, Grennan A, Obermeier Schneider E, Doyle M. The Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska: A creative solution to a persistent behavioral health workforce shortage. Psychiatric Clinics. 2022 (June); 45(2): 259-270. DOI: 10.1016/j.psc.2022.03.004
2. Watanabe-Galloway S, Chasek T, Doyle M, Grennan A, Houfek J, Naveed Z, Schneider E. Provisional behavioral health licenses to full licenses: Case study in Nebraska. Journal of Rural Mental Health. 2022 (March); 46(3), 195-204. DOI: 10.1037/rmh0000197.
3. Watanabe-Galloway S, Chasek C, Yoder AM, Bell JE. Substance use disorders in farming population: Scoping review. Journal of Rural Health. 2021 (May). DOI: 10.1111/jrh.12575 
4. Watanabe-Galloway S, Chen LW, Trout K, Palm D, Deras M, Naveed Z. Improving behavioral health workforce supply and needs estimates using active surveillance data and qualitative data. J Rural and Remote Health. 2019;19(2):4996. doi: 10.22605/RRH4996.
5. Keeler H, Sjuts T, Niitsu K, Watanabe-Galloway S, Mackie PF, Liu H. Virtual mentorship network to address the rural shortage of mental health providers. Am J Prev Med. 2018;54(6):S290-S295. DOI: 10.1016/j.amepre.2018.02.001