Many Portland Public Schools students will likely have to see different therapists when classes restart, as the school district ends its short-lived partnership with a mental health contractor that embedded providers in schools during the recent academic year.
The contractor, Stronger Oregon, reports that the therapists—16 of whom worked across 40 PPS schools—saw more than 300 PPS students last year. This is a large chunk of the roughly 1,000 students PPS says accessed mental health services during this span.
Stronger Oregon’s removal from the Portland schools is a local expression of a broader reconfiguration in the state mental health system that has been underway for months, as the Oregon Health Authority shifts how it directs scarce mental health resources.
The school district says it ended the contract with Stronger Oregon when it learned the provider could no longer take clients served by CareOregon, which manages benefits for most Oregon Health Plan members in the Portland area.
“The current lack of a contract with CareOregon CCO creates an undue burden for our families—especially those already facing significant barriers to care,” Jey Buno, chief of student support services, told Stronger Oregon in a May 5 email. “To ensure equitable access and continuity for all students, we must prioritize providers that align with our families’ insurance needs.”
For a brief period, it looked as though the split might be averted as Stronger Oregon tried to figure out a way to keep working with CareOregon members at PPS schools. But PPS confirmed to WW in recent days that the district would not renew its relationship with Stronger Oregon when it signs contracts with community mental health providers in August.
PPS says its school-based health centers at various high schools, and it is working with other behavioral health providers on expansion.
But Stronger Oregon leaders are not happy about the outcome. They note that their service costs nothing to PPS—Stronger Oregon bill insurers and families—and that all other Portland-area school districts they contract with are continuing their partnerships in the 2026-27 academic year.
Erin McAdams, who directs the Stronger Oregon schools program, says the move will disrupt care for kids. “I don’t quite understand the decision to just remove a free resource that could continue to meet the needs of several hundred students,” she tells WW.
In a statement, PPS says it “is actively working with community mental health partners to expand services at schools that may have limited therapist availability or no current partner support.”
The district also notes that Stronger Oregon has indicated a commitment to remain in the Portland area, meaning families with compatible insurance may still be able to continue services with their current therapists through community-based offices, outpatient locations, or telehealth.
In any event, the dynamics afoot run deeper than PPS. The Oregon Health Authority has drawn down partnerships with an array of mental health providers like Stronger Oregon, as the agency seeks to emphasize contracts with mental health providers that offer a broader suite of services, often termed “team-based care.”
Downstream, some Oregon Health Plan benefits managers, like CareOregon—the largest in the Portland area by far—are drawing back on their relationships with groups like Stronger Oregon.
The shoe dropped in March, when CareOregon sent Stronger Oregon a letter, reviewed by WW, noting that the contract would be terminated, and that the provider must in the coming months transfer patients who were CareOregon members to other providers.
Stronger Oregon says it serves about 1,000 clients in total.
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