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State behavioral health chief says school‑based mental‑health programs reach thousands but face workforce limits
Summary
Georgia’s Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities told lawmakers the APEX school‑based clinician program expanded services but faces staff turnover and clinician shortages, and that telehealth and regional partnerships are being used to extend care to rural areas.
Kevin Tanner, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, told a joint Senate–House Education Committee that school‑based mental‑health services have expanded but face persistent workforce and access challenges.
Tanner said APEX clinicians — licensed counselors and social workers embedded in schools — provided about 231,000 services during the 2023–24 school year, serving more than 16,000 students. He said 6,328 students had received APEX services for the first time last year and that 47% of APEX services were provided in rural areas and 53% in urban areas.
Tanner cautioned that staffing is the program’s chief constraint: APEX funded 468 licensed positions that supported 550 employees, but the department reported turnover of roughly 75 staff members in the prior year. He said Georgia’s current counselor‑to‑student ratio is about 1 to 432, compared with the American School Counselor Association recommended ratio of 1 to 250.
Why it matters: Lawmakers asked how to increase access to services in rural counties and how to build a pipeline of clinicians. Tanner said adding dollars alone will not solve shortages because the state lacks sufficient licensed clinicians; the department is pursuing telehealth, regional collaboration with RESAs, and workforce supports.
Programs and results - APEX clinicians can bill Medicaid and private insurers; the program embeds clinicians in school buildings to meet children where they are. - The department is piloting hybrid telehealth models that use local facilitators to connect students to remote clinicians; Tanner said those pilots have shown promise in reaching rural schools. - The department also runs Project ECHO training to link pediatricians with psychiatric specialists, resiliency clubhouses (18 locations), recovery clubhouses (8 locations), and the statewide 988 crisis line.
Work group recommendations Tanner described a behavioral‑health work group chaired by Hall County superintendent Will Schofield that recommended the behavioral‑health element of local school safety plans be strengthened and reviewed as part of GEMA’s plan approval process. The group recommended incentives — rather than only mandates — to encourage participation and suggested building facilitator career pathways to help connect students to services where a licensed clinician is not on site.
Questions and next steps Committee members pressed the department for policy options to address licensure and retention barriers; Tanner cited licensing backlogs and market‑wide competition for clinicians. He recommended continued investment in telehealth, regional partnerships, and creation of facilitator positions to improve coverage.
Ending Tanner told the committee the department will continue to expand telehealth and training to reach more students and asked legislators to consider measures that support clinician recruitment and retention.
