Workforce Solutions Jam | Provider Voices on AI: Real-World Insights for the Behavioral Health Workforce
This webinar was hosted as a partnership between the College for Behavioral Health Leadership (CBHL), The National Council for Mental Wellbeing, and Health Management Associates (HMA).
As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to make waves across industries, the behavioral health field is navigating how to thoughtfully integrate technology while maintaining person-centered care. Watch this webinar recording where we began with key findings from Sarah Hudson Scholle, MPH, DrPH on the digital mental health landscape and her report: Digital Mental Health Technologies: Gaps and Opportunities in Current U.S. Regulatory Authorities.
The session then moved into a candid panel discussion with behavioral health providers who have implemented AI tools in their organizations. This is a rare opportunity to hear directly from peers – not vendors – about what it really takes to bring AI into practice. Panelists shared their experiences, including the successes, challenges, and unexpected hurdles they encountered along the way.
Whether you’re exploring AI for the first time or looking to improve your current implementation strategy, this session recording offers practical, provider-centered insights to help guide your decision-making.
What You’ll Learn:
- Key Trends from the Digital Mental Health Technologies: Gaps and Opportunities in Current U.S. Regulatory Authorities Report.
- Real-world examples of AI implementation in behavioral health settings
- Lessons learned on rollout, staff buy-in, and ethical considerations
- How to assess whether an AI solution is the right fit for your organization
Note: This is an education-focused session. No AI vendors were presenting or pitching products.
Resources
- Proposed Rule: Medicare and Medicaid Programs; CY 2026 Payment Policies Under the Physician Fee Schedule and Other Changes to Part B Payment and Coverage Policies; Medicare Shared Savings Program Requirements; and Medicare Prescription Drug Inflation Rebate Program
- Avo Platform One-Pager
- Report: Digital Mental Health Technologies: Gaps and Opportunities in Current U.S. Regulatory Authorities
- ReflexAI Research Brief
Meet the Speakers

Allie Franklin, MSW, LICSW, Managing Director, Health Management Associates
Allie Franklin is a managing director for the behavioral health practice group at Health Management Associates. She is a licensed clinical social worker with decades of experience in public, private, and non-profit behavioral health, healthcare, and social service organizations. She has led transformations in integrated care through modernizing processes, systems, workflows, policies, and organizational approaches to achieve positive outcomes. She brings a perspective of clinical, operational, and strategic expertise that comes from having worked on the clinical front lines and rising to roles in senior and executive leadership.
Allie has served as faculty on two Workforce Echo series with the National Council on Mental Well Being and has presented at several national conferences on the topic of addressing behavioral health workforce challenges at the state, agency and systems levels. Prior to joining HMA, she served as an assistant administrator and behavioral health service line administrator for the University of Washington’s Harborview Medical Center. This role encompassed inpatient behavioral healthcare, emergency psychiatric services, a full outpatient clinic, scattered site integrated behavioral health and primary care, and a center of excellence, the Behavioral Health Institute.
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Other roles in her 30+ career include serving as the associate vice president of clinical operations for a Medicaid managed care organization in Pierce County, WA, as the chief executive officer for one of Washington state’s largest suicide hotlines, and while serving as a Captain in the United States Air Force, she was the chief of mental health services for Columbus Air Force Base.
Allie earned a Master of Science in Social Work from the University of Texas at Arlington, a Bachelor of Social Work from Missouri State University and is currently completing her Executive Master of Health Administration degree at the University of Central Florida.

Sarah Hudson Scholle, DrPH, MPH, Principal, Leavitt Partners, an HMA Company
Sarah Hudson Scholle is a principal based in Washington, D.C., specializing in supporting multi-sector alliances to promote improvement in quality, equity, and person-centered health care.
Prior to joining Leavitt Partners, an HMA Company, Dr. Hudson Scholle was vice president of research and analysis at the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). She led a portfolio of quantitative and qualitative research that contributed to national thought leadership in quality and equity, contributed to program development and policy action, and resulted in numerous peer-reviewed studies. Specifically, Dr. Hudson Scholle led projects to develop and test quality measures, including those subsequently adopted into national programs. Her content expertise includes mental health, substance use, child health, care coordination, and patient-reported outcomes.
Dr. Hudson Scholle led research underpinning NCQA’s health equity accreditation program and supported Centers for Medicare and Medicaid’s (CMS) Office of Minority Health on contracts to identify disparities, develop methods for characterizing equity, and identify opportunities for policy change. Her work on primary care practice systems contributed to the development of the patient-centered medical home program. She also led studies to understand barriers to implementation of quality initiatives in multiple settings.
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She has served on national panels for the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine; CMS; and the National Quality Forum. Prior to NCQA, Dr. Scholle was an associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and an assistant professor at the University of Arkansas.
She earned her doctorate in public health from The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and a master’s degree in public health and a bachelor’s degree in history from Yale University.

Shalom Lichtenstein, MSN, FNP-BC, PMHNP-BC Board Certified Family Nurse Practitioner, Board Certified Registered Nurse, Pre-Hospital Registered Nurse
Shalom Lichtenstein, MSN, FNP-BC, PMHNP-BC, is a Lakewood, NJ–based nurse practitioner who bridges primary and psychiatric care. He sees behavioral health patients at CHEMED Health Center, with pediatric and family services through Precious Health, and also maintains an independent family practice. Shalom focuses on culturally responsive, whole-person care that connects mental and physical health for patients of all ages.

Judy Tejada, Vice President for Clinical Operations, Horizon Corporations
Judy Tejada began working at the Horizon Corporations in 2000. As the Vice President for Clinical Operations, Judy is responsible for clinical programming, risk management, clinical onboarding and training and development. In addition to her administrative responsibilities as a Licensed Mental Health clinician, Judy maintains a private practice caseload through Horizon Therapy Associates. Prior to her work with Horizon, Judy worked in higher education. She has a bachelor’s degree in political science from The College of Wooster, a Master’s degree in College Student Personnel Administration from The Ohio State University, and a Master’s degree in Counselor Education from Canisius College.

Levi Van Dyke, Chief Behavioral Health Officer, Volunteers of America Western Washington (VOAWW)
Levi Van Dyke is Chief Behavioral Health Officer at Volunteers of America Western Washington (VOAWW). He has spent the past 17 years working in crisis services throughout the State of Washington.
VOAWW operates a crisis contact center based in Everett, WA that answers over 20,000 inbound contacts per month across multiple lines of service. VOAWW is currently a national backup chat/text center and covers the entire state of Washington for 988 chat and text services. The center also provides primary 988 phone coverage for 32 of the 39 counties in Washington, Regional Crisis Line services for three Behavioral Health Administrative Service Organizations, and operates the Native and Strong Lifeline, offering culturally informed and specific services from Tribal crisis counselors for Washington’s indigenous residents.
Levi currently serves as Vice President of the National Association of Crisis Organization Directors (NASCOD) board and sits on numerous national, state, and regional crisis and behavioral health committees. He has dedicated significant time working with leadership and professional development programs and spent six years as a volunteer firefighter and EMT. Levi is a Washington State University alumnus (Go Cougs!) and received his graduate degree from Eastern Washington University.
Background
The Workforce Solutions Jam is a monthly webinar to build national momentum and encourage collaboration through the Workforce Solutions Partnership. The partnership is leveraging Collective Impact to address the workforce crisis, and using a cross-sector approach to address the long-standing challenges for expanding and solidifying the behavioral health workforce.
The Workforce Solutions Partnership is the new name for the partnership between the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, Health Management Associates and the College for Behavioral Health Leadership. The Center for Workforce Solutions continues to operate as an initiative of the National Council.
