LA GRANDE — Kate Gekeler is excited about the future.

Gekeler, a retention coordinator at Eastern Oregon University, just successfully finished her first term as part of the school’s first cohort in its new Clinical Mental Health Counseling program, which is addressing the pressing need for mental health professionals, especially in remote areas. Gekeler has high hopes for the program, especially since she is able to complete it online and on her own time.

“I’m 34, I have two kids, right? In-person, for me, it just wouldn’t be an option,” she said. “I think if we only go with standardized in person classes, we eliminate whole generations of people, who because they’re working and they’re going to school, just wouldn’t be able to be providers. With the crisis happening in rural health care, especially mental health care, we cannot afford to eliminate that many people.”

Gekeler already has a background in social services that amplifies her understanding of the transformative impact mental health counselors can have.

“I want to keep doing what I am doing, but want to help students grow,” she said, showcasing the program’s potential to shape not only individual careers but also the collective well-being of communities.

EOU launched its Clinical Mental Health Counseling graduate program in the fall of 2023. Not only do students come from all over Oregon, but they come from as far away as West Virginia, showing the program is well-developed for students across the nation.

“You’ll find a lot of similarities of places including rural Oregon to West Virginia,” EOU Trustee Dr. Chuck Hofmann said. “This program is helping address the shortages in mental health, but it’s also the opportunity to learn from one another in these unique environments.”

The graduate program is hoping to “grow their own” providers and counselors.

“It’s often a lot easier to have a grow-your-own model,” Hope Schuermann, the program director and senior clinical educator behind the initiative, said. “Instead of trying to entice people to move from other states or try to pull providers away from areas that don’t have a shortage, I think that if we can educate folks who are already in Eastern Oregon that want to live there and want to be there, then that will naturally increase the number of providers in the area.”

An increasing need

The idea for the new program came from the increasing need for mental health providers in rural Eastern Oregon.

“Most of Oregon actually falls under the underserved populations by federal guidelines,” Schuermann said. “I think that it’s been recognized by the state that there needs to be an investment of resources to get more people in qualified positions to help with mental health shortages.”

Hofmann’s hope for the program is to attract students from Eastern Oregon who will establish and practice mental health services in areas where the need is greatest.

“Behavioral health has gotten the short stick compared to physical health,” he said.

The graduate program is being taught hybrid-style, blending synchronous, asynchronous and online weekend residency courses. The university admits 25 students per cohort, with three cohorts starting throughout the year. The first group of students started classes in the fall and are expected to graduate in August 2025.

All graduate-level counseling programs have a baseline of classes they are required to offer for state licensure, such as group counseling skills, individual counseling skills and family counseling skills. Students will leave the program with a broad foundation in evidence-based, ethical practice for students through courses on theories, techniques, individuals, couples, families, and typical specialty areas such as trauma, addictions, and working with children.

What sets the university’s program apart is the rural education aspect.

“One of the focuses of our program is making sure that our students are prepared to serve rural populations because we’re in a rural location,” Schuermann said. “We infuse that in all of our courses, but we’re also going to have a specialty course on the topic.”

Mental health provider sees benefits to program

Doctor of psychology Natalie Kollross owns Psychological Services of Pendleton. She was enthusiastic about EOU’s program.

“I think that it’s great,” she said. “We need more mental health providers in this area, and we have for a long time, and I’ve been trying to recruit them for years and it’s very hard. I would hope that this would serve as a pipeline for therapists staying in our area if they attend EOU.”

She said EOU’s grow-your-own approach make sense.

“If students at EOU are from this area, then they may be more likely to stay because they may have family, they may have roots in this area,” Kollross said. “Secondly, they know the area, they know the culture, the nuances, the people. They can be better informed, in that sense, to support their community.”

She said it’s difficult to recruit people to Eastern Oregon because it’s rural and people from outside the area don’t know what it’s like.

“I think if we grow it from that pipeline, I think it might be easier to have them stay,” Kollross said.

Rural Oregon lacks the mental health resources of the state’s urban areas, she said, and that presents challenges not just for working in the community but also for clients. Yet there are good facets to working in a rural community, including connectedness.

“You’re not isolated within the community, you’re part of the community, you’re part of the fabric,” Kollross said. “People know you and you know them, and that can help a lot with the job but also just help a lot with feeling like you’re making a difference. That’s a big strength that we have that isn’t really felt in a more urban area.”

Funding the program

While the bulk of the funding for getting this program up and running came from the institution itself, just within the first year of having students, the program has established several community partnerships that have aided the program’s journey.

The Clinical Mental Health Counseling Department received a $787,500 grant from the Oregon Health Authority’s Behavioral Health Workforce Initiative. This grant is specifically geared toward tuition assistance for students who are Oregon residents enrolled in the program.

The program received another grant from the National Board of Certified Counselors specifically to assist with Council for Accreditation of Counseling & Related Educational Programs accreditation. This award is given yearly to four or five new programs across the country.

Eastern Oregon Coordinated Care Organization, a coordinated care organization serving 12 counties in Eastern Oregon, has pledged significant financial support with two separate gifts totaling $300,000 for scholarships.

“We’ve been very successful, including local hospitals, and local providers,” said Hofmann, a retired physician from Baker City, who was involved in the early development of the coordinated care model.

One of the standout aspects of the program is its ability to successfully educate future providers through online methods.

Eastern prides itself on its success in online education. The university has been providing online education for more than 40 years, and Vice President for University Advancement Tim Seydel said the institution pays particular attention to students’ needs and ensures they get a quality education.

“One of the things we found is that a lot of the folks who want to get into these programs may be already working in mental health or behavioral health,” he said. “They can’t afford to uplift everything they’re doing and move to a larger city to attend an on-campus, in-person program. So that’s our niche. That’s how we can deliver it to those smaller rural communities where people don’t have to relocate to get into an academic program to grow it.”

Schuermann has been very impressed with the demographics of the cohorts so far. Nearly 50% of students are traditional graduate students coming right out of undergrad, and the other half are non-traditional students, some being well into their careers but wanting to further their capabilities.

“We have people in their 50s and 60s that are starting a graduate degree, and I think that’s amazing for people to come back and feel comfortable when there’s such a need,” she said. “I love that we have such a difference in age in our cohorts, and I know they’ll learn so much from each other.”