By Keith Daellenbach | Contributing Writer
courtesy of the Ballmer Institute.
An innovative academic program to transform children’s behavioral healthcare welcomed its first cohort of students last fall at the University of Oregon Portland campus (2800 NE Liberty St.). The program is the first ever comprehensive academic program in this discipline and it is aimed at establishing a new profession: the child behavioral health specialist. The students completed their first term in December.
“Welcoming our first cohort of trailblazing students to the Ballmer Institute marks an enormous milestone in our work to expand access to behavioral health services for Oregon youth and families”, says Kate McLaughlin, Executive Director. There is a sense of collaboration, passion, and excitement from administrators, faculty, and students and the sense that this academic start-up really will change the world.
“Kind of like how a map is complete, this program is different in that it is something of uncharted territory,” says Ari Pyle, a student originally from Seattle who, in preparation for the program, completed an Associates Degree in Science at the Richard Bland College in Virginia. As Gen Zer Pyle puts it, “We’ve all had really hard childhoods with corrosive social media that negatively affected our mental health,” and she “wants to do something about it!”.
18 other cohort students plan to do something about it, too. According to Julie Wren, Senior Director and Chief of Staff, the first cohort is intentionally small to allow a personalized learning experience and the curriculum is agile to integrate insights from students, the Community Advisory Board and the National Behavioral Health Advisory Board. Students will have access to over 20 newly developed courses focused on foundational skills in professional practice, behavioral health promotion, prevention and intervention, and cultural responsiveness and inclusion.
The first two years are focused on completing prerequisites. Some, like Pyle, completed prerequisites at a junior college, while others completed prerequisites at the U of O campus in Eugene. The final two years of the program are completed exclusively at the Ballmer Institute at the U of O Portland campus.
Ernie Leyva is one of the students who completed his prereqs at the Eugene campus. He grew up with two sisters, the younger of which sadly died from a congenital heart defect just prior to the start of fall term last September. “The whole reason I’m here is because of my little sister, she had a lot of love to give”, said Leyva. He saw the “extreme value of positive psychology” that benefited her and he wants to “work with children to help them from getting worse.”
The majority of current students receive scholarship support including some who live in on-campus housing. The institute will grow, according to Wren, and she anticipates enrolling up to 150 students per cohort. At full capacity, this will result in a total of up to 300 undergraduate students.
While special accreditation is not yet available, the program, the first of its kind in the nation, is fully approved by the U of O and Oregon’s Higher Education Coordinating Commission. According to Wren, by the time students graduate with a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree in Child Behavioral Health, they will have completed over 700 hours of supervised applied practicum experience at K12 schools, health care facilities, and community organizations- locations at which they may end up someday being employed.
Upon program completion, students will be eligible to register as Qualified Mental Health Associates, a certification offered by the Mental Health & Addiction Certification Board of Oregon. They will be exceptionally well-prepared to enter the youth behavioral health workforce to change the world after graduation in Spring 2026.
Keith Daellenbach is a mechanical engineer and outdoor enthusiast who lives climbing, skiing, biking, canoeing, and beekeeping with his wife Amy and son Micah.