Clinicians, school health staff urge board to restore county school-based mental health program

Speakers at the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners’ public comment period said they were alarmed by a proposal in the county’s current budget to end the school-based mental health program and urged commissioners to keep the program intact.

Frances Flores Tapia, who identified herself as a Spanish-speaking Latina and a clinician in the county’s school-based mental health program, told the board the program delivers crisis and ongoing mental-health treatment across multiple school districts. “I’d like to address the confusing and shocking proposal to terminate school based mental health services,” she said. Flores Tapia said 26 clinicians currently work across six school districts and that “60% of our team provides culturally specific services.”

The speakers described the program’s role in immediate safety interventions and ongoing care. Flores Tapia said clinicians screen for suicide risk and intervene when students disclose attempts, self-harm, or abuse. Wendy Foster, who identified herself as a Multnomah County resident and a nearly 20-year employee in the school-based mental health program, gave a widely detailed example of an adolescent she assessed as high risk for suicide and helped get admitted to an adolescent psychiatric unit. Foster said she keeps a gift from that student “in the same fireproof box where I keep my passport and daughter’s birth certificate” and said losing the program would leave gaps for uninsured and undocumented students.

Amanda Corte, a nurse practitioner at the Franklin Student Health Center, recounted an example of “Erica,” a student who began trusting care after a school-based mental health provider named Kate met her during a clinic visit. Corte said the provider’s on-campus relationships allowed school staff and medical clinicians to coordinate academic supports, contraception counseling and other services.

All three public commenters framed their remarks as appeals to the board to reconsider the proposed elimination. Foster said the program is “slated to be completely eliminated in the current proposed budget,” a point she raised as part of her testimony.

Public testimony on this topic took place during the meeting’s non-agenda public comment period; county staff reported six people had signed up for verbal testimony and seven written testimonies were submitted for the record. Commissioners acknowledged the testimony during later remarks: Commissioner Jones Dixon noted that school-based counselors “are not only serving the students, they’re also serving the parents.”

No vote or formal board action on the school-based mental health program occurred during the meeting. Budget decisions that could affect the program were raised elsewhere on the agenda and will proceed through the county’s regular budget process. Several commenters asked the board to preserve culturally specific services and to consider the program’s role in preventing hospitalizations and juvenile-court incidents.

The board did not make a decision at this session on the program’s funding; commissioners and staff indicated budget deliberations will continue in the weeks ahead.