Rural Reach

School psychologists are often a young person’s only access to mental health care, serving on the front lines of a crisis. But there aren’t enough of them—especially in rural Oregon’s small communities.

A new initiative, which launched last fall through the Lewis & Clark Graduate School of Education and Counseling, aims to change that. The graduate school has long offered a nationally accredited school psychology program, but now there’s a mostly online option for students who can’t relocate.

“Working professionals can pursue this program while continuing to serve their communities,” says Elena Diamond, professor and director of the school psychology program.

Amid a statewide mental health crisis, the new hybrid program helps address a key need in a training desert. There are only two school psychology training programs in the state and just a few online options nationally.

All seven of the students in Lewis & Clark’s first cohort work full time in K-12 schools in rural communities sprinkled throughout the state, from Hermiston in eastern Oregon to Ashland in southern Oregon.

Diamond says this means students can share experiences from their own workplaces.

“What we designed is working,” she says. “Our students aren’t asking, ‘Oh, is this scenario even a real thing?’ They’re like, ‘Oh, yeah, that happened at work on Tuesday.’ ”

One graduate student, Andrea Tary, has been working as a special education teacher for middle schoolers in Medford for five years. She says she wasn’t sure she’d be able to afford a three-year program until she found this one.

“I’m able to maintain full-time employment and health benefits through my employer while taking classes,” Tary says. “It was definitely the right choice for me.”

Learning From the COVID Era

Lewis & Clark’s program has been more than a decade in the making. In 2013, Diamond served as president of the Oregon School Psychologists Association, where she learned about the shortage of mental health practitioners in rural communities.

The recommended ratio for school psychologists is 1-to-500 students—a target only Utah, Maine, and Puerto Rico have met. In Oregon, the average is 1 to almost 1,300 students; in rural places, it can be even worse. That’s a crushing caseload for any school psychologist, and it can result in burnout.

“In rural areas, school psychologists are typically spread among so many different schools that they’re not often part of any one community,” Diamond explains.

Some rural schools are even employing virtual school psychologists located in Florida since there’s such a shortage.

So, the question was how to train educators who are already living in rural communities to be psychologists. Over and over, Diamond’s team tried to figure out ways to reach these more remote students.

“We kept circling back because every year people outside Portland would ask, ‘Is there a way to do the program online?’ ” Diamond recalls.

She finally knew it was possible when the COVID-19 pandemic pushed the world onto Zoom screens. After the pandemic subsided, Diamond decided it was time to go back online in a more intentional way and launch the hybrid school psychology program.

“We had the time to really think innovatively, and we were able to do this right,” Diamond says.

School psychology classes now happen at night or on weekends, with students coming to campus a few times a year and traveling for internships. Plus, the assignments are the same for both the hybrid and the in-person options for the three-year full-time program.

‘No Two Days Look Alike’

School psychologists support students’ mental health and well-being by assessing learning and behavioral needs, providing counseling, and developing intervention strategies. They collaborate with educators, families, and communities to create safe, supportive learning environments and help students overcome academic, social, and emotional challenges.

“A school psychologist is someone who knows what data to gather, how to interpret that data, and how to create hypotheses about what could be going on with that student in order to recommend the best intervention possible,” says Jennifer Twyford, associate professor of school psychology, who teaches in the hybrid program.

Having an appropriate number of school psychologists can mean less substance abuse, suicidal ideation, and absenteeism since they’re able to act early and prevent these issues from getting worse.

When schools are well staffed, psychologists also have more time to offer direct counseling or interventions. The training at L&C is intentionally broad so graduates can adapt to the needs of their schools and think of innovative ways to solve problems.

Twyford says a school psychologist’s top personality attributes are flexibility and adaptability.

“The fun thing about being a school psychologist is no two days look alike,” Twyford says. “You will have a plan for your day, but inevitably, a crisis will intervene. You’ll then become a critical part of the team that helps address it.”

Growing Mental Health Services

Lewis & Clark’s broader school psychology program prides itself on its sense of community, with colloquiums and alumni events.

Twyford says faculty and students work hard to translate a similar atmosphere to the remote cohort. The hybrid cohort has an active group chat to lift each other up, and they revel in the time they spend together in person when they study on campus.

“ They’ve really established community among themselves, despite being far-flung geographically,” says Twyford.

Rebecca Bjornson describes her student experience as “deeply positive.” She’s been in education for 22 years, serving as an elementary school teacher, a special education teacher, and now a district-level administrator in Ashland.

“Coming out of the pandemic, I felt a strong need to expand my skills in supporting the mental health and well-being of students and families in our small southern Oregon community,” Bjornson said.

According to the nonprofit Mental Health America, in 2023, Oregon ranked last in the nation when it comes to access to mental health services for youth. This was already a crisis before the pandemic, but COVID-19 only perpetuated the problem. Now, on average, they experience more severe anxiety, suicidal ideation, and depression.

Bjornson and others want to be part of the solution.

“I want to continue supporting local high school programs and working with community partners to expand mental health services within our schools and beyond,” Bjornson says. “I believe in fostering strong school-community partnerships to create lasting change.”

Another student, Linda Brecht-Kwirant, says she wants to specifically focus on helping families of students who are neurodiverse, like those with ADHD. A single mom, she currently works as a bilingual administrator in Marcola, a remote corner of Lane County.

“I hope to gain experience and specialized licensure working with students and families of color, specifically among Spanish-speaking populations,” says Brecht-Kwirant.

Looking forward, the remote cohort is slated to grow slightly this year, from 7 to around 10 students. Faculty believe more growth opportunities are possible, such as enrolling students from Washington or other nearby states, but the goal for now is to keep the cohort relatively small.

According to Diamond, “The biggest priority for us is to maintain the integrity of the program for our students.”