The Attrition Death Spiral: Why Recruiting More Clinicians Won't Fix Behavioral Health's Workforce Crisis
HRSA projects a 114,000 behavioral health counselor shortage by 2037. The real story isn't the pipeline — it's the hole in the bucket. Attrition is outpacing new entrants, and training more clinicians without fixing the conditions that burn them out is a policy prescription that can't work.
Apr 15, 2026 Matthew Sexton, LCSW