An artist’s rendering of the planned residential facility for youth at Parrott Creek Child & Family Services in Oregon City. The project will serve 40 youth when finished. (Courtesy of Parrott Creek/El Dorado)
A longtime provider of youth behavioral health services plans to expand its residential program that treats teenagers with mental health and addiction problems.
Parrott Creek Child & Family Services in Oregon City is in the midst of a construction project that will provide 40 beds for youth in Oregon City. The $29 million project broke ground in October 2023, and the new facility will open in summer 2025, said Simon Fulford, the Clackamas County-based organization’s executive director.
Parrott Creek, a nonprofit, is growing its services as Oregon faces a high demand and unmet needs for mental health care and addiction treatment services. The 25,000-square foot expansion will allow Parrott Creek to go from 20 beds to 40 beds. But it’s more than simply doubling its size, because the expansion will allow it to tailor a third program based on the needs of youth, Fulford said.
“It is doubling our capacity, but it’s tripling our service capacity,” Fulford said.
At this point, 28 beds are dedicated for youth with a combination of mental health and addiction challenges. Planners are still mapping out the program for the remaining 12 beds. It may serve youth who suffer from both mental health and addiction challenges or provide respite care for youth who need time away from families.
“We really want to develop that third program based on the current needs,” Fulford said.
The project’s funding comes from a variety of sources, including $8 million state lawmakers allocated this year and $4 million in federal grants.
Parrott Creek has raised 80% of the money needed, and obtained a loan to cover up to $5 million so construction could start. The goal is for fundraising to pay that off, Fulford said.
The organization works with children with mental health and addiction needs, including children coming from the child welfare or juvenile justice systems and children enrolled by their parents. The organization has worked with thousands of children and youth since it started in 1968.
On its 80-acre campus, Parrott Creek provides services including outpatient mental health and addiction treatment and recovery services for parents with children in the child welfare system.
High needs statewide
In a legislative presentation last week, Oregon Health Authority officials highlighted the need for youth residential services.
A state report released in June found Oregon needs 3,700 more beds to serve people with mental health and addiction treatment needs. But that report only shows the need for adults, not youth.
As of August, Oregon facilities had 39 beds that are operational and served youth with addiction needs, according to a state report. Providers would have liked to serve 66 but could not for various reasons, such as a lack of workers.
But the state’s licensed capacity is 85 beds, a number that doesn’t demonstrate how many beds are available because facilities may be licensed for a higher number than they can staff.
The Oregon Health Authority is working on a system that will help it track the youth system of psychiatric and substance use disorder residential care, Chelsea Holcomb, the authority’s child and family behavioral health director, told the Senate Health Care Committee last week.
It will show wait times, the level of care needed and where the referrals come from, Holcomb said.
“It will give us an ongoing real-time look into our system,” Holcomb said.
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