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 Jan. 2, 2024
In this issue...
Reflections from Oregon Health Authority's Child and Family Behavioral Health Director
The days are getting longer and our New Year’s intentions and priorities for the upcoming year are in place. For many of our youth and family neighbors in Oregon, simply accessing basic needs is their priority.
More than 40 million Americans live in poverty. In Oregon, it is estimated that there are 18,000 adults and children that are homeless.
One of Oregon Governor Tina Kotek’s priorities is housing and homelessness. She has declared homelessness as a state of emergency.
In response, Governor Kotek worked with legislative leaders to develop and pass a $155 million package to rehouse 1,650 Oregonians, prevent homelessness for 8,750 households, and expand shelter capacity by 700 beds by the end of 2023. Learn more about Governor Kotek’s priorities.
In early November our unit shared all the things they are grateful for, and at the end of that month we were able to meet in person to discuss our priorities for the year ahead.
We were joined by Elliott Hinkle from Unicorn Solutions, Kelly Bremken from the Oregon Humane Society, Brandi Tuck from Path Home and Logan Simpson from Jackson Street Youth Services, to discuss the intersections of houselessness, mental health and animal welfare.
We learned that important policy decisions we make in behavioral health can have a critical impact on efforts to find housing for families. We also learned how animals function as protective factors and the more we all can do to keep them housed with their families will allow better health and mental health outcomes.
Our team is committed to looking at efforts we can make in children’s behavioral health to positively impact this work. We encourage to you to see the great work our panel is doing in Oregon:
What brings me hope for this year is that Oregon has a new Kid Governor for 2024: Zoya Shah. Deputy Secretary of State Cheryl Myers traveled to Findley Elementary in Beaverton for the announcement and to congratulate Zoya in person. Watch the surprise announcement.
Every candidate chose a platform; Zoya’s is Creating Mental Health Awareness in Kids. To address her vision, Zoya outlined a three-point plan of action:
- Creating awareness, normalizing, and removing stigma.
- Identify triggers that cause anxiety and depression.
- Act to provide support and tools to cope with it.
View Zoya’s campaign video. Zoya was selected from numerous candidates across the state by Oregon fifth graders. To learn more about the Kid Governor program and to view all the candidates’ videos go to or.kidgovernor.org.
The Child and Family Behavioral Health (CFBH) unit is proud of both of our governors and their priorities to improve the quality of life for Oregonians. Their priorities underscore the importance of fostering a more inclusive and compassionate approach to homelessness and mental health. We hope to work with you, the community, Governor Kotek, Zoya and her cabinet this year to amplify and realize her vision!
We are dedicated to showing up in community to hear from those receiving services so that we can create a better system of care in Oregon. Look in future newsletters for opportunities to impact and participate in the 2024-2028 Children's Behavioral Health Roadmap!
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Molly Sandmeier joined the CFBH team in November as a Hatfield Resident Fellow. Molly is a recent Oregon State University graduate. She has a Master of Public Health with a discipline in biostatistics. Molly previously completed two internships at Oregon Health Authority, with the Adult Behavioral Health Services Unit and with the Environmental Health Unit.
She is joining OHA this time in the CFBH unit with the objective of advancing youth and family voices through data. She is excited to be part of something that can make Oregon a place where everyone can be healthy and happy. Outside of public health she has lots and lots of hobbies, including acrylic painting, oil painting, sculpting, and gardening. She also has an adorable year-old cat named Earl Grey who keeps her company working from home.
Please welcome Molly to the team.
The Oregon Alliance to Prevent Suicide (Alliance) is a statewide advisory board to OHA. They advise on the state’s 5-year Youth Suicide Intervention and Prevention Plan, which aims at reducing youth suicides for those age 24 and younger. The advisory board is comprised of community members and state agency representatives.
Part of the work of the Alliance is to engage youth and young adults and hear their priorities and experiences with the systems that we are working within.
- While youth and young adult engagement is welcomed and encouraged on Alliance committees, youth have often said that they prefer a focused opportunity to provide feedback rather than having to commit to ongoing committee meetings.
- As a result of this feedback, the Alliance has held focus groups to hear directly from those age 24 and younger from across the state.
This year, the Alliance held focus groups to learn about youth experiences and insights into mental health resources available at their schools, and their experiences with different crisis lines.
What the Alliance heard from youth:
- Training and education about mental health and suicide prevention is extremely important.
- All staff, as well as students, should have access to education so they can better support one another.
- It is helpful when resources are regularly shared during the school year.
- It is useful having resources in bathroom stalls for privacy.
This is a portion of the feedback that will inform the work of the Alliance's Schools Committee and Lethal Means Safety Committee in the coming year. This feedback has been shared with a variety of audiences including the System of Care Advisory Council, School Safety and Prevention Specialists and the Oregon School Counselor Association (OSCA) conference.
In addition to elevating youth voice across the state, the Alliance is creating a packet of information to be shared directly with schools in January 2024 that will include focus groups’ findings and resources which youth identified as helpful.
Full focus group findings will be available on the Alliance's Youth Engagement web page in early 2024.
The Association of Community Mental Health Programs (AOCMHP) has been a longstanding beacon of community partnership and innovation, serving Oregonians for more than forty years. In 2022, the AOCMHP partnered with OHA to implement a comprehensive public health approach to suicide prevention. This effort is funded through a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Suicide Prevention Program grant.
- The comprehensive approach focuses on reaching adults with the greatest need for suicide prevention supports including veterans and military-connected people, people living in rural areas and people 55 and older in Oregon.
- With a strong history of community partnerships, AOCMHP and OHA created and funded a mini-grant program for community-based organizations, aimed at empowering local partners to address the unique mental health needs of those at greatest risk of suicide in their communities.
- AOCMHP received 30 applications from community-based organizations and with the help of suicide prevention partners across Oregon, seven applications were awarded a mini-grant with a total of $84,550 awarded to Oregon communities.
A standout success of this grant program partnership unfolded when the Roadhouse Foundation, who participated in the grant selection and award process, volunteered to extend an additional funding opportunity for any of the non-awarded AOCMHP mini-grant applicants.
- After conducting a review process of their own, the Roadhouse Foundation awarded an additional $61,000 into six additional community organizations.
- All organizations awarded by the Roadhouse Foundation serve people in rural and remote counties in Oregon.
AOCMHP’s awards not only provided financial support in 28 Oregon counties, but also inspired collaboration among partners. AOCMHP’s commitment to empowering community partners through its grant program had a ripple effect, transforming partners into co-funders and investors in community mental health care. These targeted investments can leave a legacy of resilience, collaboration, and improved well-being for generations of Oregonians to come.
AOCMHP-OHA mini-grant awardees
- Council on Aging (Crook, Deschutes, Jefferson, parts of North Klamath County)
- Yellowhawk Tribal Center (Umatilla County)
- Sherman County (Sherman County)
- AGE+ (Jackson County)
- Community Connections (Union County)
- Oregon Senior Peer Outreach Program (Clatsop, Columbia, Wasco, and rural Washington counties)
- Café Project (Baker, Morrow, Umatilla, Union, Wallowa, Josephine, Coos, Curry, Douglas, Lincoln, Tillamook, Polk, Gilliam, Hood River, Sherman, Wasco, Wheeler, Lane, Linn and Benton counties)
Roadhouse Foundation awardees:
- Fossil Senior Meal Site (Wheeler County)
- Vale Senior Center (Malheur County)
- South Morrow County Seniors Matter (Morrow County)
- Grant County Senior Programs (Grant County)
- Illinois Valley Wellness Resources (Josephine County)
- Rogue River Community Center (Jackson County)
If you have any questions about this work, please contact AOCMHP statewide ASIST coordinator, Tim Glascock at tglascock@aocmhp.org.
As part of the 2021 legislative investment in the children's behavioral health continuum, Madrona Recovery facility became dually licensed as a psychiatric residential treatment facility (PRTF) in November.
- Madrona remains licensed as a substance use disorder treatment facility and is adding 18 PRTF beds to support youth with co-occurring disorders.
- The PRTF beds will be available in February 2024 for youth with high-level psychiatric needs.
This project is an OHA grant agreement contract. Additional funding from the Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) supported the remodel to expand Madrona’s existing facility and incorporate PRTF beds. Madrona has scheduled an open house for January 2024.
At OHA we are proud of Madrona’s leadership in bringing this thoughtful remodel design to life. It will serve our youth safely and well. We congratulate Madrona on this major step to becoming Oregon’s only dually licensed treatment facility for young people.
Intensive Treatment Services (ITS) capacity remains a critical concern to CFBH. Each week we receive data on capacity for acute psychiatric inpatient beds, psychiatric residential treatment facility (PRTF) beds, and substance use disorder (SUD) residential beds. ITS programs include psychiatric day treatment programs, residential treatment programs, secure inpatient programs and acute psychiatric inpatient units.
Total psychiatric bed capacity (including acute inpatient beds)
This bar graph shows the total number of child and adolescent psychiatric beds in Oregon, including both residential and acute inpatient beds.
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Orange represents acute psychiatric inpatient beds.
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Green represents PRTF beds.
In previous months we did not distinguish between these two bed types, as they are both considered psychiatric beds; however, moving forward we are separating these two bed types to focus on our goal of increasing PRTF capacity.
 Total PRTF bed capacity
This graph shows only PRTF bed capacity information compared to the goal bed count of 286 PRTF beds. In 2024, the CFBH unit and our partners in ODHS Child Welfare will prioritize reevaluating the goal number of PRTF beds and will revise the goal if necessary.
 SUD residential capacity
This graph shows the highest possible number of SUD residential beds compared to the highest number of SUD beds that were filled at one time during represented months.
 Referral and Capacity Management
We continue to make progress towards collecting referral and program capacity data in our new system, Referral and Capacity Management (RCM). Our information technology (IT) partners at OHA have been working tirelessly to finish designing and building out RCM to be an effective data collection tool, as well as a useful organizational tool for PRTF providers to track referrals to their programs. In case you missed it, RCM is a secure web-based platform for providers to manage referrals and waitlists to their programs. We will also give providers a high-level view of their census and upcoming openings.
Our next step in this process is what our IT partners call a “bug hunt.” During a bug hunt, multiple IT and CFBH team members will log into an RCM test environment and practice using the system to ensure that it operates as intended. If there are glitches or errors in the system, they will be caught at this time and then repaired in the following days/weeks. The bug hunt is scheduled for the first week in January. Once any needed repair work is completed, OHA staff will begin training the designated PRTF program staff on how to use RCM. We are currently on track to begin training in early February 2024.
This group is providing feedback for the development of the next version of the children’s behavioral health strategy, or Roadmap. These meetings are held the second Tuesday of each month from noon to 1 p.m. on Zoom.
- The group completed recommendations on residential treatment services, and these are being considered by the CFBH team.
- The next workgroup meeting is January 9 and will look at recommendations for outpatient services, a continuation of work started in December.
If you are a family member or caretaker or part of a family group in the community, we would welcome your engagement in this work. In the development of the next version of the Roadmap, it is especially important to ensure that we hear and center the voices of those who have been historically marginalized and those experiencing developmental disability.
We are happy to come listen to your group’s insights on system needs for both mental health and substance use disorder for young people, from infancy through age 25, or to facilitate a guided conversation.
Please email Hilary Harrison for the link and more details if you are a family member and would like to be involved.
Job opportunity in Washington County: Suicide Prevention Program Coordinator
The Behavioral Health Division within the Washington County Department of Health and Human Services is looking for a Suicide Prevention Program Coordinator.
- The Behavioral Health Division has broad responsibilities as the local Community Mental Health Program (CMHP) and as a delegate of local coordinated care organizations.
- This job is partially funded by mental health promotion and prevention funding through the CFBH team. This flexible funding is used by counties to build healthy communities, individual skills, or social emotional competence.
About the position: In this role, you will coordinate suicide prevention efforts and focus on planning and policy decisions to support suicide prevention. You will also work with health systems to support Zero Suicide Initiative in community and support the regional and national suicide prevention goals.
The position reports to the System of Care Supervisor and will work closely with regional and community partners, as well as Health and Human Services Department staff to support this important work.
January 9 information session: ODHS to partner with residential providers in their transformation efforts
The CFBH unit is supporting a pilot project partnership between ODHS Child Welfare, the Building Bridges Initiative and The Oregon Child & Family Center for Excellence. The upcoming special project will be for residential providers to partner with ODHS.
The outline of the project is for these organizations to study and evaluate efforts by providers to implement program enhancements and improvements in their work with children, youth, and families. This study will be published in journal reports and possibly a book.
Please contact Vera Stoulil, Director of The Oregon Center for Excellence at vera@oregonalliance.org with any questions.
Find events, opportunities, trainings and resources in last month’s posting. Many of these trainings are also on our website. We will send updates mid-month — Look for the next one in your inbox on January 15.
For feedback and suggestions for our newsletter and information: kids.team@oha.oregon.gov.
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