Capacity of Virginia’s Licensed Behavioral Health Workforce

The Virginia Health Care Foundation’s Assessment of the Capacity of Virginia’s Licensed Behavioral Health (BH) Workforce uses state and national data to provide a comprehensive picture of the capacity, distribution and demographics of the Commonwealth’s licensed BH workforce. It also integrates insights from leaders of Virginia’s of licensed BH professional associations and BH graduate programs.

The Assessment includes details and provides some recommended solutions. Highlights follow:

  • A large and disproportionate number of Virginia’s licensed BH professionals are at or nearing retirement age (61% of Psychiatrists are age 55 or older).
  • Virginia’s BH workforce does not reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of the Commonwealth’s population.
  • 93 of Virginia’s 133 localities are federally-designated Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas; 37% of Virginians (2 million) live in them. [Note: As of November 2023, all Virginia localities are Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas].
  • Two localities have no licensed BH professionals; 35 have no trained BH prescriber.
  • Virginia localities with no or a few BH professionals have poorer outcomes on key BH indicators than localities with more BH professionals.
  • The number who become licensed in Virginia each year is insufficient to maintain even the current inadequate supply of BH professionals.

For more details about the capacity of Virginia’s BH workforce, please see:

Note:

  • The Virginia Department of Health Professions Health Workforce Data Center’s Virginia’s Behavioral Health Dashboard includes updated data for some items in the Assessment (FTEs by locality, proportion over age 55).

For more information about the Assessment, methodology or findings, please contact Denise Daly Konrad, Director of Strategic Initiatives: dkonrad@vhcf.org.

Last Updated on February 10, 2026