Staff from the Behavioral Health Education, Retention and Expansion Network of Nevada (BeHERE NV), a behavioral health workforce development center in Nevada that largely was modeled after the Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska at UNMC, recently visited the BHECN Omaha offices.
During the visit to Omaha, BeHERE NV staff met with team members in many areas of BHECN operations to see how aspects of BHECN’s model can further apply to the Nevada center.
BeHERE NV was created by the Nevada Legislature in 2023 to help the state address its behavioral health workforce shortage. BeHERE NV – which is housed at the University of Nevada Las Vegas – is largely modeled after BHECN because Nebraska and Nevada have many similar characteristics, said Sara Hunt, PhD, who directs the Nevada Center.
Like Nebraska, Nevada has two major metro areas – Las Vegas and Reno – while the rest of the state is largely rural. Another similarity between the two states is the large number of areas designated as having shortages of behavioral health workers in both.
“Throughout most of the state, we don’t have enough people to help meet the behavioral health needs,” Dr. Hunt said, noting that the county Las Vegas sits in actually is considered a shortage area.
The centers plan to continue talking to share best practices and to potentially foster the creation of a national network of behavioral health workforce development centers, BHECN Director Marley Doyle, MD, said.
“Being able to host the team from BeHERE NV was an amazing experience for the BHECN team,” Dr. Doyle said, “and we are very excited to see how this relationship will evolve and grow into other endeavors and opportunities.”
Read more about how BHECN served as a model for the creation of the Nevada Center.