New mental health provider has hired many from Lifeways
By Terry Murry on Friday, October 8th, 2021 in Columbia Basin News Columbia Basin Top Stories
UMATILLA COUNTY – Community Counseling Solutions has already taken over Umatilla County’s substance use disorder program, and on December 1, it will begin managing the county’s mental health work. Commissioner John Shafer said the transition away from Lifeways is going smoothly.
“All of the behavioral health specialists were offered jobs with CCS, and only one of them is going to stay with Lifeways,” Shafer said. “I think CCS has taken on 65 employees on the behavioral health side, so they’re doing a fantastic job of retaining the staff and the articles in the paper were completely blown out of proportion.”
Shafer said that there are enough familiar faces moving over to CCS that the transition from one company to another should be seamless for clients. He added that those new employees will have to learn CCS’s way of doing business.
“There’s a new boss in town and that new boss has got a different way of doing business,” he said. “So, there are going to be some growing pains. At the end of the day we’re going to have a better product for mental health in Umatilla County.”
