Illinois Opioid Remediation Advisory Board
Workforce Development & Infrastructure Working Group Meeting
May 13, 2024
Virtual Meeting Held Via Zoom
Meeting Minutes
Workforce Development and Infrastructure Workgroup Members
Blanca Campos, Community Behavioral Healthcare Association (Chair)
Chelsea Laliberte Barnes, Wolf Pack; Live4Lali
Angie Hampton, Egyptian Health Department
Kristin Hamblock, Rosecrance
Theressa Perdieu, CEAD Council (DBA Hour House)
John Horsely, Kenneth Young Center
Mila Tsagalis, DuPage County Health Department
Lora Passetti, Chestnut Health Systems
Chris Schaffner, JOLT Harm Reduction
Dr. Trenton Fedrick, Habilitative Systems, Inc.
Michelle Saddler, Kittleman and Associates
Tom Wright, MD, Rosecrance
Angel Cruz, Peoria County Sheriff's Office
Jen Nagel-Fischer, The Porchlight Collective, SAP
Bessie Alcantara, Alternatives, Inc.
Welcome and Roll Call
Sue Pickett, PhD of Advocates for Human Potential, Inc. (AHP), facilitator, welcomed the group and roll call was taken. All members were present except for Angie Hampton, Angel Cruz, Chelsea Laliberte Barnes, Bessie Alcantara, Kristin Hamblock, Dr. Trenton Fedrick, Dr. Tom Wright, and Michele Saddler. Quorum was not established. The group agreed to vote by consensus.
Review and Approval of Working Group Meeting Minutes from March 11, 2024
Ms. Campos called for a motion to approve the March 11, 2024 meeting minutes John Horsely made a motion to approve the minutes. Lora Passetti seconded the motion. All members present voted in favor of approving the minutes. The motion passed.
April 18 IORAB Meeting Update
Ms. Campos and Dr. Pickett gave an update on April 18, 2024 IORAB meeting.
* Ms. Campos shared that the working group's recommendation to support paid training experiences/field training experiences and the expansion of dedicated clinical supervision was approved. Dr. Pickett reported that the recommendation will be reviewed by the Governor's Opioid Overdose Prevention and Recovery Steering Committee at their May 30, 2024 meeting. If the Steering Committee approves the recommendation, it will go to the Attorney General's office for final certification. After certification, the recommendation will go back to IDHS/SUPR, who will then work with the Regional Care Coordination Agency (RCCA) to develop the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). It is anticipated that this NOFO may be released in late summer/early fall 2024..
* Ms. Campos noted that the language about providing scholarships was not included in the approved recommendation. The working group could consider additional recommendations related to scholarships.
* Ms. Campos stated that the IORAB meeting included a discussion about the need for greater transparency related to recommendations. The working group chairs will review recommendations sent to the Interim Statewide Opioid Settlement Administrator (SOSA)Chairs will decide which recommendations are relevant to their working group. Ms. Campos noted that working groups can still develop their own recommendations.
Priority Recommendations for the IORAB
* Ms. Campos stated that treatment providers have shared that SUPR's billing system is outdated and challenging to use. She asked if this working group could recommend that funding be allocated to improve this system. Working group members agreed; however, use of funds for this purpose may not be an approved use of funds per the Illinois Opioid Allocation Agreement.
* A working group member suggested a recommendation to support the retention of service providers, including funding bonuses. Dr. Pickett shared that provider bonuses is not an approved use of remediation funds. Ms. Campos stated that she will research how other states are funding bonuses to incentivize provider retention.
* A working group member proposed a recommendation to recruit students, people with lived experience, and people who are working within other areas of mental health to move into behavioral health careers. Ms. Campos described the Behavioral Health Workforce Center (BHWC) of Illinois which aims to recruit and support people to work within behavioral health. She shared the center's website, Behavioral Health Workforce Center (illinoisbhwc.org), and a webpage it created to raise awareness of jobs in behavioral health, Behavioral Health Jobs in Illinois (illinoisbhwc.org). As this center already receives state funding, it is not eligible to receive settlement funding.
* The working group discussed recommendations to support field-based internship experiences such as visits to clinical sites. They discussed the need for guidelines for the qualifications of internship supervisors and the possibility of creating a curriculum and educational materials for instructors. Ms. Campos shared a video that provides an overview of the Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska (BHECN), a program that was a model for the Illinois BHWC. The working group discussed the possibility of using settlement funds to create a similar video to educate people in Illinois about behavioral health career pathways.
* The working group drafted recommendations related to recruiting students, people with lived experience (PLE), and others to pursue careers in the behavioral health and substance use disorder (SUD) treatment field.
- Develop training resources and methods, such as the provision of stipends, to reimburse behavioral health service providers to educate and recruit high school and college undergraduate students, including students at community colleges, into careers in behavioral health services and SUD treatment.
- Develop resources and strategies to support people as they build careers in behavioral health and SUD treatment. Possible resources include training guides, videos, and processes to certify people providing career building services to ensure they deliver appropriate content, including field experiences. Career building efforts should include peers and PLE and compensate them equitably. Efforts to reach PLE might include presentation of career information in community engagement activities, in recovery groups, and in other SUD treatment or harm reduction settings.
- Draw from existing models to support career development in behavioral health, including for PLE, such as the BHECN/Nebraska project and an apprenticeship model, Peers Advancing Total Community Health (PATCH), developed by the Indiana Counselors Association on Alcohol and Drug Abuse (ICAADA) which allows people who are incarcerated to begin the peer certification process with the goal of allowing them to become certified peers as they reenter the community.
* The working group discussed additional resources for addressing the behavioral health workforce shortage developed by the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) including the following: The Workforce Crisis: How States Are Responding to Shortages in the Health Care Workforce and Modernizing Behavioral Health Systems: A Resource for States - NASHP.
* A working group member highlighted a resource that discusses how to include people with lived experience in decision making about opioid settlement funding and compensate them in a robust way: Engaging with People with Lived Experience in Opioid Settlement Decision-Making - NASHP.
* Ms. Campos stated that she will continue to research whether the recommendations discussed during this are approved uses listed in the Allocation Agreement. She will research ways that other states have used settlement funding and discuss what she learns at the next meeting.
Public Participation
Members of the public who attended the meeting were invited to offer questions or comments.
* A member of the public asked that the workgroup consider offering scholarships for people working in the field of SUD treatment who have associate or bachelor's degrees as many current scholarships are available only to people with master's degrees. Ms. Campos shared information on a loan reimbursement program for people with behavioral health degrees that work in community-based settings. Community Behavioral Health Care Professional LRP (isac.org)
* A member of the public who is a provider working at a mobile van that does harm reduction thanks the group for their work.
Adjourn
Ms. Campos thanked participants and adjourned the meeting. The next meeting of the Workforce Development & Infrastructure Working Group will be on July 8, 2024, from 11 AM - 12 PM.
