Elevate Behavioral Health Workforce Fund
County of San Diego Commits $75M to Transform Behavioral Health Workforce
Historic investment will add 3,000 new professionals to confront the region’s behavioral health crisis through zero-interest forgivable loans and paid internships
SAN DIEGO (Oct. 9, 2025) – Facing a severe shortage of behavioral health professionals, the County of San Diego is investing $75 million over five years to build and sustain the local behavioral health workforce. The ELEVATE Behavioral Health Workforce Fund (ELEVATE) will break down financial and training barriers by offering zero-interest loans, apprenticeships, peer support training, paid internships and nurse practitioner expansion programs. Together, this initiative aims to bring 3,000 new professionals into behavioral health careers, strengthening access to care for the region’s most vulnerable residents.
“Too many San Diegans struggle to find care because our system doesn’t have enough providers. We’ve invested in crisis stabilization units, emergency response teams, and thousands of new treatment slots — but none of it works without the people to staff them. This investment will train thousands of new professionals and build a workforce pipeline that can make San Diego a national model for behavioral health care,” said Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer, Chair of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors.
The Policy & Innovation Center (PIC), in partnership with Social Finance and Trailhead Strategies, co-designed ELEVATE. ELEVATE is funded by the County of San Diego through the Mental Health Services Act Innovation Fund. PIC leads implementation alongside its partners, building an infrastructure rarely seen in the behavioral health field.
Five ELEVATE Programs Driving Workforce Expansion
The San Diego Pay It Forward Loan Program – Provides new and incumbent behavioral health workers with zero-interest, student-friendly loans to pursue graduate-level behavioral health degrees. Loan repayments are recycled to help fund future students, multiplying impact. Social Finance operates the program through partner universities, including San Diego State University and California State University, San Marcos. For more information visit SocialFinance.org/san-diego.
Behavioral Health Apprenticeship Network – Creates paid pathways for substance use counselors, case managers, community health workers and other in-demand roles. The implementation partners are The LAUNCH Apprenticeship Network, San Diego Workforce Partnership, and the San Diego & Imperial Counties Community Colleges Regional Consortium.
Peer Support Training Grant Program – Expands training and placement of certified peer support specialists – individuals with lived experience in recovery – through a partnership with Pacific Clinics and National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) San Diego.
The Nurse Practitioner Expansion Grant Program – Grows local nurse practitioner programs with specialty tracks, clinical placements, and fellowship opportunities. Conditional Awardees: UC San Diego Health and San Diego State University.
The Social Work, Therapy, and Counseling Internship Program – Builds out high-quality internships for master’s-level and associate-level clinicians in public behavioral health settings.
PIC and Trailhead Strategies oversee the four upskilling programs. The nurse practitioner and internship programs are in the procurement process and will award contracts soon.
The need for public mental health workers
The behavioral health workforce crisis is straining the system.
A 2022 San Diego Workforce Partnership report, commissioned by the County of San Diego and conducted by experts now with the Policy & Innovation Center, found that an additional 18,500 behavioral health professionals are needed locally by 2027 – more than doubling the workforce needed.
The path to a sustainable career in behavioral health is narrow and limited. There are few resources to guide aspiring professionals. While future doctors have government-funded residency and fellowship systems, behavioral health training programs are not standard across the state and nation.
Students often struggle to find clinical training sites, slowing their licensure pathway. They typically work at lower associate-level wages, making it more challenging for them to remain in the field. Loaded with student debt and facing high costs of living in San Diego, students often leave the public sector to work in higher paying, more stable private practices.
The report highlighted critical shortages among therapists, behavioral health specialists and nurse practitioners, with nearly half of the current workforce already experiencing burnout – placing further strain on an overextended system.
Beginning in 2024, ELEVATE has been building connections across schools, training programs and employers to create a sustainable pipeline that can meet the region’s growing behavioral health needs.
“The program’s goal is to bring in 3,000 new professionals and create clear pathways for those who want to serve in public behavioral health,” said Ben Haddad, Board Chair of Policy & Innovation Center. “ELEVATE builds local capacity while strengthening the long-term sustainability of mental health care in San Diego County. This is the system-wide shift we urgently needed.”
Learn more or get involved as a future or current public behavioral health worker, employer or partner at ThinkPIC.org/ELEVATE.
About Policy and Innovation Center (PIC)
The Policy & Innovation Center is a think tank and social-impact incubator. PIC conducts research and policy analysis to identify creative solutions to our communities’ biggest problems, and builds cross-sector, multijurisdictional partnerships to advance those solutions. Founding partners include The Brookings Institution, County of San Diego, and San Diego Foundation. For more information, visit ThinkPIC.org.
About Social Finance
Social Finance is a national nonprofit organization and a registered investment adviser (SF Advisors, LLC). We work with the public, private, and social sectors to create partnerships and investments that measurably improve lives. Since our founding in 2011, we have mobilized more than $400 million in new investments designed to help people and communities realize improved outcomes in workforce and economic mobility, health, and housing. Learn more at SocialFinance.org.
About Trailhead Strategies
Trailhead Strategies is a workforce and economic development consulting company based in San Diego, CA. We help businesses, government agencies, foundations, training providers, and non-profits design, finance, and execute talent development, public benefits, and economic development projects and initiatives that help workers, families, businesses, and communities. Learn more at TrailheadStrat.com.
Media Contacts: Jean Walcher / Mariah Almasco, J. Walcher Communications jean@jwalcher.com / mariah@jwalcher.com, 619-295-7140