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OSU Extension urges state backing for community ‘conversations’ to improve rural behavioral health
Summary
Supporters of Senate Bill 920 told the committee that OSU Extension’s community-conversations model has helped rural counties plan behavioral health responses, attract millions in follow-on funding and create locally owned action plans; witnesses asked lawmakers to fund continued facilitation and training.
Senate Bill 920 would direct the Oregon State University Extension Service to administer a behavioral health promotion project, convening local communities across the behavioral health sector to hold structured "community conversations" about mental health and substance use.
Daniel Bonham, senator for District 26, described the work OSU Extension began in 2019 using federal SAMHSA and USDA grants to help rural communities prevent suicide and overdose. Allison Myers, associate dean for Extension and Engagement at OSU, said the program is educational and not clinical: "We are educators at heart. We will never be clinicians," she told lawmakers.
Dusty Linnell, an OSU Extension associate professor of practice, described the model as a four‑session process that brings together public health, health care, law enforcement, schools and community partners to review local data, map prevention‑to‑recovery systems, identify gaps and create written action plans. He said Tillamook County used that action plan to secure more than $3,000,000 in follow-on funds for shelters, housing for people in recovery and expanded care services.
Local officials described concrete results after hosting community conversations. Michael Ewai, director of compliance for Lifeways (the county mental health provider in Malheur County), said the extension‑facilitated plan helped Lifeways win $15,000,000 to establish a 24/7 behavioral health stabilization center. Malheur County Sheriff Travis Johnson said the process built cross‑sector relationships and led to three community priorities: a crisis stabilization center, an interagency task force for information‑sharing, and a youth mentorship program led by extension.
Several witnesses asked that the legislation explicitly require early outreach to counties, hospitals, social services, nonprofits, schools and youth representatives so local stakeholders are connected from the start. Shailen Bangs, a high‑school student from Clatsop County, asked lawmakers to ensure the work includes pediatric needs and results in an up‑to‑date navigation resource or centralized dashboard for families to find services.
The committee accepted remote and in‑person testimony and closed the public hearing on Senate Bill 920; no committee vote on the measure occurred during this session.
