The New Frontier: Neuroscience Advancements and Their Impact on Nonprofit Behavioral Health Care Providers

Publication Date:

Publisher: Alliance for Children and Families

Author(s): L. Aron; C. Zimmer; P. Heinz

Research Area: Health

Type: Report

Abstract:

Advancements in biotechnology, bioengineering, neuroscience, genetics and other medical specialties have dramatically altered the way people are diagnosed and treated for injury or disease. These advancements promise to continue at unprecedented rates of discovery. Along the way, bioethicists, philosophers, politicians, medical practitioners and other professionals will debate the numerous and very complex ethical, financial and service delivery issues inherent in each new development. While discussion has already begun on these issues within the medical field, very little attention has been given to the potential for these advancements to impact a parallel field: nonprofit behavioral health services. These providers—many operating under traditional social service models—provide a multitude of services aligned to medicine, including mental health and substance abuse counseling.



This report is the first effort of a multiyear project that focuses on exploring how advancements in neuroscience will impact the abilities of nonprofit human service providers to organize and deliver behavioral health services in the future.