Kate Gekeler, a La Grande resident and mother of two, graduated this spring from the inaugural class of Eastern Oregon University’s Clinical Mental Health Counseling program.
After five years of coursework and internships, she graduated with her bachelor’s and master’s degrees debt free. That’s largely because most of her costs were covered by the state, which is ramping up scholarships for people interested in careers in mental health.
Last Wednesday, Gekeler shared her story in front of a crowd of mental health professionals, elected officials and people receiving behavioral health treatment as Gov. Tina Kotek signed a slate of bills at Fora Health in Portland meant to improve behavioral health care in Oregon.
“I wouldn’t be a behavioral health provider today without state tuition assistance, which is one piece of legislation being signed today,” Gekeler said at the event.
By signing House Bill 2024, Kotek will invest $6 million to provide more incentives for Oregonians like Gekeler to pursue careers in behavioral health care, such as scholarships, tuition assistance, loan repayments and stipends.
In response to workforce shortages, Kotek in May also launched the Behavioral Health Talent Council, tasked with identifying new strategies to address the state’s behavioral health workforce shortage. Led by First Lady Aimee Kotek Wilson, the council has until January to develop a plan.
Additionally, Kotek signed House Bill 2059, which invests another $65 million to increase the capacity for residential treatment across the state. In addition to her administration’s existing goal of adding 465 new treatment beds by the end of 2026, the law will fund another 200 beds over the next two years.
The law works in conjunction with House Bill 2005, also signed into law on Wednesday, which broadens the circumstances when a person with a mental illness can be detained and committed to the Oregon Health Authority for treatment.
Lastly, Kotek signed House Bill 3321, which allocates $1 million for the Alcohol and Drug Policy Commission to develop and implement a substance abuse prevention plan for Oregon youth.
“The rates of substance abuse among our youth is unacceptable,” Kotek said at the event. “We need to focus on prevention.”
According to an Oregon Health Authority report, 5.77% of Oregon aged 12 to 17 had a documented substance use disorder — higher than the national average of 4.08%.
Shelly Turner, a certified peer support specialist at the National Alliance on Mental Illness in Aloha, said she’s grateful the state is focusing on reducing substance abuse among youth.
Like some of the people she serves, Turner has been hospitalized dozens of times since age 15 for her own mental health issues, including bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression.
Turner said she’s most excited about House Bill 2005, which broadens the path to therapy treatment for individuals with serious mental illness who often end up in an emergency room or jail.
“Just knowing that they’re lowering the barriers for people and not giving them to the justice system and giving them more treatment options, whether it’s substance or mental health — I think it’s really important that we focus on that,” she told the Capital Chronicle.
Despite federal cuts, Kotek remains focused on health care access
In the face of federal funding cuts, Kotek said her goal remains to build capacity and improve health care access.
“The federal budget cuts will make that a challenging environment,” she told the Capital Chronicle, noting that if more people lose their Medicaid coverage because of newly imposed work requirements then they’ll be less likely to get care.
“I am worried that we will see people not getting the care they need, and that will also affect the ability of providers to stay open,” she said. “Because if they are expecting a certain number of people to be using their services — but if more people are uninsured — they can’t get to providers.”
Calling the bills the biggest legislative wins for behavioral health in Oregon, Kotek celebrated bipartisan support.
“We were able to maintain a lot of the existing services,” she said. “These are bipartisan pieces of legislation. We heard in the session – from Democrats, Republicans and independent voters — they want access to care for their communities, for their loved ones, and they want us to do things more effectively and efficiently.”
Kotek said no single law will solve the state’s behavioral health challenges.
“We have to do all these things together,” she said. “They’re complementary, and this is a set of bills that will help us make progress. And the work isn’t done.”
By Mia Maldonado of news partner Oregon Capital Chronicle
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