The 2012 Legislative Assembly charged the Iowa Department of Public Health with creation of a Mental Health Workforce Workgroup (MHWW) to deliberate and make recommendations regarding Iowa’s Mental Health Professional Workforce. Reports are due in December 12, 2012 and December 16, 2013 respectively.
IDPH developed the MHWW by inviting a key group of mental health professionals from all fields and geographic areas for deliberation using a carefully crafted set of meetings. The planning team sought broad input and built the plan during the 2012 meetings, webinars, and telephone conferences. The 2013 meeting schedule used face to face meetings to hear from field experts, learn from other state models and deliberate the best strategy for Iowa. In collaboration with the Iowa Department of Human Services redesign workgroups and staff team, the MHWW then developed a set of recommendations to guide legislative action in creation of a mental health workforce that will meet Iowa needs now and into the future. The legislative reports compile these deliberations, the data reviewed, and the information created in one place for future reference.
