About the Appalachian Children Coalition Behavioral Health Workforce Hub

Working together. Working for kids.

The ACC Behavioral Health Workforce Hub is dedicated to increasing the behavioral health workforce to improve the quality of life for our region’s kids.

Through education, collaboration, and innovation, we work to drive interest in behavioral and mental health careers. The Hub also seeks to improve the recruitment and retention of professionals and paraprofessionals.

Our services are available to behavioral and mental health providers, healthcare organizations, schools, and agencies seeking to address their workforce needs.

Support Us

Become a Partner or Affiliate

Our Service Goals

We recognize that workforce challenges vary from place to place. The Hub offers services tailored to the needs of each of our partner and affiliate organizations, as well as personalized support services for individuals interested in behavioral and mental health careers.

Awareness, Planning & Recruitment

Developing and managing outreach to high schools, higher education institutions, and training providers to facilitate workforce development collaborations is a core function of the Hub. We will use this outreach to recruit into the workforce.

Workforce Development & Education Pathways

The Hub facilitates and supports the development of efficient, effective pathways to degrees and training content to support the pursuit of behavioral and mental health careers and occupations.

Job Placement & Career Pathways

Through work with our partners and affiliates, we will connect job seekers with job opportunities. Our personalized approach will allow us to craft individualized career pathways to demonstrate career advancement through professional development and added credentials and education.

Workforce Support & Professional Development

Dedicated professionals will work to craft relevant professional development, mentoring, and continuing education opportunities to encourage growth in the workforce and to advance careers.

Why Appalachian Ohio?

The odds are against our children in Appalachian Ohio. They face limited access to services and care, concentrated poverty, and heightened exposure to drugs.

Limited Access to Services and Care

The supply of mental health providers per 100,000 population in Appalachian Ohio is 51% lower than the national average and 41% lower than the average in non-Appalachian Ohio. Additionally, we lack adequate access to crisis stabilization facilities in the region.

Concentrated Poverty

In Ohio, the top 12 counties with the highest rates of child poverty are centered in Appalachia. Child poverty increased in every Appalachian county from 2000 to 2013, and nearly 1 in 3 Appalachian children under the age of 6 live below the poverty level.

Heightened Exposure to Drugs

Babies in Appalachian Ohio are almost twice as likely as the Ohio average to be diagnosed with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS), a condition that occurs in newborns exposed to opioid drugs in utero.