LINCOLN - A top medical officer for the State of Nebraska sees opportunities and challenges ahead for the state’s ability to deliver mental health resources, and they both boil down to the same factor: people.

Janine Fromm has served as executive medical officer in Nebraska's Department of Health and Human Services for the last few years. The position capped off decades of work after spending most of her career in her home state of California.

Fromm, a Stanford University-educated psychiatrist, came to Nebraska in 2001 after accepting a job at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

She now oversees the clinical functions of all DHHS departments aside from public health, working to ensure people in the state's care get the most cost-effective and appropriate care available.

She said that Nebraska is short on mental health providers, like other places in the country. It is also short on facilities, levels of care, and options for housing and vocational rehabilitation.

Similar observations were documented in the 2021 report from the Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska. Though that report noted some positive developments, it found that Nebraska continues to experience a shortage of care providers, and the existing provider workforce is aging.

Fromm repeatedly stressed that the state needs to recruit more people.

“We just need to figure out ways to incentivize people to come to Nebraska, to stay in Nebraska to grow our services to meet the needs of the population here,” she said.

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