News & Events

Trillium Family Services to Restructure

Trillium Family Services is Oregon’s largest mental health care provider for children and families. Our sole purpose is to better the lives of children and families who suffer from mental illness.  All of our work is dedicated to pursuing and achieving this mission.

It is with regret that Trillium Family Services today announces that it must restructure its mental healthcare programs for children and families, cutting six programs, reducing overhead, and eliminating 94 jobs. The cuts, a result of severe financial challenges, will begin immediately, and be completed by October 1st.

The Trillium Board of Directors approved this action on Friday, September 14th, to assure continued access to care for children and families throughout Oregon with acute mental health conditions.

The cuts will stem significant financial losses incurred over the past 12 months. In its last fiscal year, 2006-07, Trillium lost $5 million from operations. Fundraising and revenue from investments reduced that number, but the net was still a loss of $2.8 million dollars (11% of Trillium’s entire budget).

These losses resulted from two factors: chronic under-funding of the children’s mental healthcare system in Oregon and a lack of nimbleness on the part of Trillium to adapt to significant changes in the funding environment created by the Children’s System Change Initiative. These are challenges faced by many children’s service organizations in Oregon.

“Trillium will restructure around those services where it delivers industry leading outcomes to children who need care the most” said Kim Scott, CEO of Trillium Family Services.  “The restructuring assures that Trillium is effectively positioned to continue its work with children in the state with the most acute conditions. That includes those children who in the past would have resided at the State Hospital in Salem. They will continue to come to us.”

The core services remaining are central to Trillium’s mission of saving children’s lives and giving families hope for their child’s future.  They are In-Patient Psychiatric Residential Treatment, Psychiatric Day Treatment, and Therapeutic Foster Care. Said Dave Underriner, Chair of the Trillium Corporate Board,  “These programs are also the most financially stable and offer the greatest potential for sustainable growth. “

Based on these priorities, Trillium will close its Outpatient Clinics in Metro Portland, Corvallis and Bend, its Foster Grandparent program in Corvallis, and Residential, Clinical, Outpatient and In-Home Care in Bend. “The organization is pursuing partnerships with other Oregon mental healthcare providers to ensure that treatment strategies will continue uninterrupted,” Scott said.

In addition, cuts of nearly $1 million in overhead have been made at the administrative level, with reductions in expenditures and staffing. 

According to Ron Telles, Trillium CFO, “this restructuring cuts over $3.5 million from our budget this year. With anticipated growth in healthy, existing programs, we will balance our budget this fiscal year.”

Unfortunately, these cuts will cut the number of children being served in Oregon. We expect that after these changes, Trillium will serve approximately 3,000 children, compared to the 8,500 currently served. Trillium is committed to helping those affected find care elsewhere.

According to Trillium CEO Kim Scott, despite the drop in number of children served, Trillium’s decision is, in the long run, best for Oregon’s children. 

“The historical agencies that make up Trillium have histories that date back to the founding of the State. We have always been here for Oregon’s children, and we have a responsibility to ensure that Trillium is around for the next generation of children and families that need our help. These cuts are painful, but they will result in an organization that is stronger and well-positioned for long-term stability and growth. We will not walk away from our commitment to helping families coping with the intense and real stress of mental illness.”

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