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 June 3, 2024
In this issue...
Reflections from Oregon Health Authority's (OHA) Child and Family Behavioral Health (CFBH) Director, Chelsea Holcomb
What a busy month we have had as a Child and Family Behavioral Health team! It feels like our feet haven’t touched the ground, as you will see from all the good work we have to share in this newsletter.
Connections and relationships are so vital to all of us. Highlights for me have been the chance to travel to other parts of the state and meet people in-person. I know that I am constantly relearning that there is no substitute for that face-to-face connection.
This month as I travelled to Central Oregon and Coos County, I have been especially conscious that many of you can feel that we at OHA are disconnected from our rural and frontier areas. My hope is that as we visit more programs and communities, we can truly listen to and address your needs in our work going forward.
Last month we celebrated Children’s Mental Health Acceptance Day with advocacy training and youth and family activities. Each year this celebration causes me to recommit to listen harder and to reflect on how we can increase our education of young people and communities on the importance of mental wellness and seeking help early. Thank you to all the families and youth who advocate for yourselves and others.
Moving into June, I shall be celebrating Juneteenth, a day of profound weight and power. To quote former President Barack Obama, Juneteenth is “a day in which we remember the moral stain and terrible toll of slavery on our country.” There is a long legacy of systemic racism, inequality, and inhumanity for us to face. That said, Juneteenth is a day that also reminds us of our incredible capacity to heal, hope, and emerge from our darkest moments with purpose and resolve.
Let us all also remember and celebrate our family, friends and colleagues in the LGBTQIA2S+ community during Pride month. June as Pride month is dedicated to celebration and commemoration of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender pride. Pride month began after the Stonewall riots, a series of gay liberation protests in 1969. Locally there are celebrations in many communities in both June and July. 🏳️🌈
I hope that you will join me in a recommitment to the work of equity, equality and justice through connection, relationship and community.
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Oregon Family Support Network (OFSN) hosted Children’s Mental Health Acceptance Day celebrations in Salem on May 9 and May 11. The theme for this year was “lighting the path to social justice for children and families.”
On May 9, 30 attendees participated in a legislative advocacy training by Smith Government Relations. The training informed families of ways to advocate with legislators through sharing their lived experiences. Parents, caregivers, Family Support Specialists and community providers were in attendance. Following the training, people were able to network over lunch about future advocacy initiatives.
On Saturday, May 11, 135 attendees including children and families, Family Support Specialists and community providers met for a family fun day and resource fair. OFSN Northeast Oregon Regional Manager, Christopher Smith (Navajo (Diné) and Athabaskan), opened the celebration with a prayer and song he wrote specifically for OFSN. A Spanish language interpreter actively interpreted during the celebration. Fun was had by all with face painting, crafts, stickers, raffles for baskets and so much swag given away.
OHA thanks OFSN for creating this opportunity for children, family members and community partners to learn and share with one another in celebration of Children’s Mental Health Acceptance Day and week.
Messages of hope
OFSN leadership team members Victoria Haight and Lisa Butler at Children’s Mental Health Acceptance Day
A highlight of the May trip to Bend was a tour of the new Deschutes youth drop-in center in Redmond. The Deschutes County behavioral health team is excited to have extended their ability to reach youth needing help and support. The center is co-located in the building with youth and young adult mental health services and across the parking lot from public health. The drop-in includes laundry facilities, opportunities for fun and connection, as well as food and clothes for those in need.
 Redmond youth drop-in center: Hilary Harrison and Chelsea Holcomb from OHA and Kris Cashwell and Shannon Brister from Deschutes County Behavioral Health.
The in-person System of Care strategy meeting in Bend brought together leaders from across child-serving agencies. With all these agencies in a room the conversation was rich. The group discussed our interconnections and priorities for each agency. With Rachel Currans-Henry from the Governor’s Office and the System of Care Advisory Council’s Executive Director, Anna Williams, we generated a list of more than 30 priorities of current efforts to further review and refine. From the CFBH team the priorities included youth suicide prevention, continued implementation and expansion of mobile response and stabilization services, intensive in-home behavioral health treatment and building treatment capacity across the system, including residential.
As we work further on this alignment we will make sure we include youth and family voices as well as those of the community. We look forward to ensuring that the 2024-28 CFBH Roadmap reflects this wider system view.
Attendees represented the Governor’s Office, the System of Care Advisory Council, OHA (including Behavioral Health and Medicaid), Oregon Department of Education, Oregon Youth Authority, Child Welfare, the Office of Developmental Disability, county juvenile departments, the Casey Family Programs and the Department of Early Learning and Care.
What in the world is an Ombuds?
- Swedish: “Representative of the People”
- Spanish: “Defensor del Pueblo” “Defender of the Public”
- Arabic: “Ameen Al Mathalim” “Safeguarder against Injustices”
- Amharic: "emba tebak'i", meaning, “Keeper of the People's Tears”
- English: "Here to help"
OHA has a team of staff — the OHA Ombuds team — who advocate for Oregon Health Plan (OHP) members. This is a team of people who can advocate for and help OHP members navigate the complexities of our health care system.
Their job is to make sure that all OHP members get the dental, behavioral, physical and support services they need to get healthy and stay healthy.
Ombuds do their work by learning from those who reach out to the Ombuds program, walking with and working with them to open doors to service. Ombuds ask hard questions and advocate to lessen barriers. They report their work to the Governor and the Oregon Health Policy Board every three months. This allows them to provide information about their program with recommendations for making the system work better.
A team from CFBH traveled to Coos Bay for a local System of Care executive meeting centered on a hard conversation around the lack of residential treatment services in their area. During our time at the south coast, we also connected with the Youth ERA Drop, Starfish Youth Therapy Center in Coos Bay and the Olalla Center in Lincoln County. All offer important local services in rural locations. Next month we will feature more from this trip including an Oregon gem, Raven Durden, the Coos Youth Drop Program Manager.
Sensory playground at Starfish Youth Therapy Center. Construction for this was funded in part through a grant from the System of Care Advisory Council to the local System of Care.
Julie Graves and Sage Neilson, from our CFBH Intensive Treatment Services, attended the Association of Children's Residential and Community Services' (ACRC) annual conference in Phoenix, Arizona. There were also representatives from Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) Child Welfare and Oregon Department of Education (ODE). The theme this year was “Right Time, Right Place, Right Care.” This means that it should not matter who the youth is or where they are in the state; each young person should have access to the level of care that best fits their needs, in the setting that works for the youth and family, right when the young person needs it. Julie and Sage learned and collaborated with health authorities and treatment programs from across the United States and other countries.
Two key takeaways from their time in Phoenix:
- It is so important for us to ground our intensive services work in the full continuum of care, ensuring services are offered wherever possible in community.
- We are not alone! Attending this conference allowed Julie and Sage to connect with other state leaders and programs who face the same system access barriers that Oregon faces.
In Oregon we continue to collaborate with other agencies, providers, youth and their families for residential system improvement. We are excited to now feel a part of learning and collaboration with other states and their children’s systems of care. If you’re curious to learn more about ACRC and the work they do, you can visit their website at https://togetherthevoice.org/.
 Conference attendees: Jacque Gravley, Child Welfare, Jeff Minden, ODHS Office of Training Investigations and Safety, Sara Fox, Child Welfare, Julie Graves, OHA, Becky Emert, Child Welfare, Sam Ko, ODE, Sage Neilson, OHA.
The Oregon Alliance annual conference is always an important gathering place for many in the children’s behavioral health world. Chelsea had the opportunity to join other state agency leaders on a panel that discussed policies, practices and initiatives across systems of care to improve supports for children, youth and families. For the first time Oregon Housing and Community Services was represented, embedding the importance of stable housing for families and young people into the conversation.
 Panelists at the Alliance conference: Dr. Charlene Williams, Director, Oregon Department of Education; Molly Miller, Deputy Director, Child Welfare; Chelsea Holcomb, Director Child and Family Behavioral Health OHA; Andrea Bell, Executive Director, Oregon Housing and Community Services; Sandra Santos, Assistant Director of Community Services, Oregon Youth Authority.
The 2024 Sources Showcase was held virtually on May 23 to celebrate Oregon students and adults working to create belonging and connection in their schools and communities, either through Sources of Strength programming or through other youth-led suicide prevention efforts. Those attending used their words, art, music, influence, activities and collective power to be agents of change, connectors to help and spread messages of hope, help and strength across Oregon. They have demonstrated the power that tapping into strengths can have on individuals and entire communities.
Nominees were chosen based on submissions that showed how they were:
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Agents of change: how they have used their voice, art, words, music, and/or time to advance belonging, connection, and equity in their school or community.
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Connectors to help: how they have elevated positive opportunities for their peers, normalized help-seeking, and worked to break down stigma and codes of silence so often connected to seeking mental health support.
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Rooted in hope, help and strength: how they embody strengths-based and inclusive practices.
The honorees represent K-12 schools across twelve different counties in urban, suburban, rural, and frontier areas of Oregon.
Full details for all the winners can be found at this website. The 2024 Source Showcase Video is well worth seven minutes of your day.
 Hood River High School Sources of Strength team
 Sources of Strength campaign display at Adrienne C. Nelson High School
After 23 years in leadership establishing early psychosis programs throughout Oregon and nationally, Tamara Sale has transitioned out of the Early Assessment and Support Alliance (EASA) Center for Excellence Director role. Dr. Megan Sage, long-term member of the Center for Excellence team, has stepped into the role.
Tamara says, "There is no greater pleasure than being part of a positive and hopeful movement to bring person-centered and evidence-based early psychosis support to our communities, and the thousands of young adults and family members EASA has served since we started, demonstrate to me every day that hopefulness is well-founded. Local leaders throughout Oregon, and more and more throughout the country, are making the commitment to show up when and how people need them, with the assumption that each person has unique gifts and we all just need the right support and a dose of courage.
“When we first started, we were a five-county pilot, and now there are programs in every state of the country. EASA has served more than 4,000 families since the legislature made its first investments in 2008, and I know the Center for Excellence team will continue to provide the kinds of hands-on support and training teams need. As I move on to complete my doctoral program in Community Health, I hope to continue to engage in furthering Oregon's investment in community wellness by connecting lived experience and research in person-centered health policy."
OHA created the EASA Center for Excellence in 2013 to support early psychosis teams statewide, and it was rapidly called on to support national dissemination. Local teams provide community education and rapid access to holistic care including medical, mental health counseling and community support, supported education and employment, peer support, family education and support, and occupational therapy. To learn more about the program or to find local contact information, go to www.easacommunity.org or contact the Center for Excellence at easa@ohsu.edu.
Message from new Director Dr. Megan Sage:
I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to lead the EASA Center for Excellence into the next phase to continue to positively impact mental health care for youth and young adults experiencing early symptoms of psychosis. I have been a consumer of mental health services myself for over four decades and have been a social worker in the early psychosis intervention field since 2008. As the Director of the EASA Center for Excellence I will continue to center the stories and experiences of youth, young adults, and their family members and supports to continue to create positive change in early psychosis intervention care throughout Oregon and nationally.
Dr. Megan Sage
Family Search and Engagement (FSE) is a set of practices designed to locate, engage, connect, and support family resources for youth. A major goal of this practice is to move youth from a place where they don’t ever hear “I love you” to a place where they can hear it and feel it every day. This comes from family, relatives, and others who love them. Youth disconnected from their families are frequently involved in the child welfare system, have experienced multiple placements with non-relatives and have lost contact with their extended family members. To identify family members, FSE uses a variety of search tools, techniques and sometimes DNA testing. The program uses community and strength-based approaches to meet family members where they are and build relationships to understand them and any potential barriers to contact. The goal is for young people to exit services with a stronger connection to their family, culture and a positive sense of self.
One story:
“We are working with a youth, “C” that was adopted at 7 and then adoptive parents started seeking out of home placements around age 11 and now at 13 years old, C has been in residential care for several months. There is no plan for them to return to adoptive family, and attempts to contact or visit C have not been made in the last 6 months. This youth was in deep emotional pain and had been regularly self-harming when services started. Sarah Donley was assigned this case and reached out to biological family who remembered, loved and wanted contact with C. After four months of slow preparation with the family, C, and extensive advocating within the team for phone contact, Child Welfare granted FSE permission to start connecting C to biological family. The outpouring of support and love for C has been so incredible to witness. Always taking C’s lead, the family has been able to have phone calls, Facetime calls and there is an in-person visit scheduled this summer with Dad. Now thanks to FSE, C is having regular contact with both birth parents, an ex-stepparent, three siblings, an aunt and two cousins. Their orbit expanded from zero outside contact to a rotation of family faces, voices, letters, and soon to be hugs too.”
 The Family Search and Engagement team from left to right: Jonathan Pleasant, Sara Booth, Sarah Donley, Chelsea Oakerson, Tawny Townsend and Celeste Malone.
Each summer, Oregon hosts summer meal sites for children and youth ages 1-18 all over the state. Summer meal programs may serve a combination of breakfast, lunch, snack, or supper. Some programs also offer learning activities for them before and after meals.
To find meal sites in your area you can call 2-1-1 or text “food” or “comida” to 304-304 or use the USDA Summer Meals Site Finder.
Find events, opportunities, trainings and resources in last month’s posting on our newsletter page. Many of these trainings are also on our training opportunities web page. We will send updates mid-month — Look for the next one in your inbox on June 17.
For feedback and suggestions for our newsletter and information: kids.team@oha.oregon.gov.
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