LA GRANDE — To help address the shortage of mental health professionals in rural areas, Eastern Oregon University is working to launch a new master’s of social work program. The new program will be offered no later than winter term 2025, according to Rae Ette Newman, interim dean of the College of Education.

“We began working on this program a long time ago,” Newman said. “I don’t call the shortage of mental health resources a ‘shortage,’ but a ‘drought,’” Newman said. “According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there will be 75,000 openings (in the mental health field) each year for the next decade, so this program is filling a huge gap.”

The creation of the new degree has been a joint effort between different departments in the university for several years.

“The process began by hiring consultants,” Newman said. “The university really didn’t have any experts to help plan this. By the time my department received (the degree plan), the curriculum was already built. It really was a collaborative effort.”

The program will be 72 credits for the traditional pathway for students who do not have any prior experience in the mental health field, or 36 credits for the advanced pathway for students who have prior experience. The traditional pathway will take about eight terms to complete, and four terms for the advanced pathway.

“A huge selling point of this degree is that people do not have to uproot,” Newman said. “The program is online so people can do it from the comfort of their home.”

The program requires that a person has completed a bachelor’s degree, and the type of bachelor’s degree doesn’t matter, assuming that the person has a vested interest in social work.

Focus on Eastern Oregon

An additional selling point for the program is that it’s been designed to include electives that focus on Eastern Oregon and its specific needs.

“The program will have electives that are aligned with our region,” Newman explained.

The electives that are already mapped out will cover mental health topics essential to Eastern Oregon. Topics covered in these electives include substance abuse, assessment and instrumentation with substance abuse clients, and understanding trauma.

“We have the opportunity to create even more courses that will align with the needs of our region, but these are the ones we already have planned. We will likely be developing more,” Newman said.

EOU’s vice president for university advancement, Tim Seydel, explained that the shortage of mental health resources in Eastern Oregon — and pleas from organizations asking for EOU to bolster the numbers of mental health professionals in the region — have been motivating factors behind the creation of the new degree.

“We have had numerous requests and letters from organizations (saying) ‘please help us,’ in terms of new degree programs for mental health professionals,” he said.

Seydel said there will be scholarship opportunities for students who enroll in the program to help offset the cost of tuition.

“The shortage (of mental health professionals) is a challenge in rural communities all across Oregon,” he said.