Too many Oregonians cannot get mental health and addiction care when they need it — not simply because services don’t exist, but because we don’t have enough professionals to provide them.
We know this reality intimately. As leaders in behavioral health, we see it every day. Clinics can’t fill open positions. Workers are drowning in paperwork. New graduates can’t find supervisors to complete their licensing hours. Experienced providers leave the field, overwhelmed by impossible caseloads and inadequate support. Meanwhile, Oregonians in crisis wait too long for care.
For many years, Oregon studied this problem. Various reports identified pieces of the puzzle, but the work remained fragmented and the crisis only deepened. That changed when Gov. Tina Kotek commissioned the Higher Education Coordinating Commission to conduct a comprehensive behavioral health talent assessment, consolidating years of research into one data-driven analysis. Then she established the Behavioral Health Talent Council, chaired by First Lady Aimee Kotek Wilson, and charged us with transforming those recommendations into actionable solutions.
This spring, we released our final report: The most comprehensive, coordinated effort we’ve seen to address the behavioral health workforce crisis in our state.
The council brought together 22 members from across the state with diverse expertise: direct service providers, healthcare administrators, licensing authorities, educational leaders, agency directors, peer specialists, and individuals who have lived with mental health and addiction.
We conducted site visits across Oregon, from rural residential facilities to urban community mental health centers. We held roundtables with frontline workers scared they’d have to leave jobs they loved because the system was breaking them. We met with students preparing to enter a field that desperately needs them but isn’t always prepared to support them. We invited experts from across Oregon to present.
Our final report includes 17 action plans with 74 robust strategies addressing the entire workforce pipeline:
Recruitment and Retention: Reducing administrative burden. Expanding clinical supervision. Improving workplace safety. Creating pathways toward better compensation.
Licensing and Credentialing: Streamlining processes. Removing barriers that disproportionately affect BIPOC and multilingual providers. Making career pathways clearer.
Education and Training: Expanding access to behavioral health careers. Strengthening student support. Ensuring programs align with community needs.
The challenges we face can feel insurmountable. A workforce stretched beyond capacity. Waitlists that grow longer. A crisis that deepens while we’ve struggled to respond. But for the first time, Oregon has a comprehensive plan forward, built on solid research and shaped by practitioners, educators, and Oregonians with lived experience.
Our experience on this council reminds us that when people come together across sectors and perspectives — when we listen to frontline voices and center equity – meaningful change is possible.
We must take care of the people who take care of us. The professionals who continue to show up to help Oregonians in crisis deserve workplaces that support them and systems that allow them to provide quality care.
Every day that passes, more Oregonians go without timely care and more skilled professionals leave the field. But every action Oregon takes brings us closer to a system where Oregonians can access care when they need it and professionals have the support they deserve.
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