Jean E. Schumer, LCSW, Ph.D., LLC

My first job after college was as a youth care worker in the children’s unit of a state psychiatric hospital that had similarities to the one depicted in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest but for children. Much of my career since then, 30 + years, has been spent providing clinical and social services to children, adults, and families, often in times of stress and/or conflict. I’ve worked as a medical social worker in rural and urban hospital emergency departments, medical-surgical floors, rehabilitation floors, skilled nursing units, and ICU’s; as a psychiatric social worker in psychiatric hospitals, clinics and hospital units, as a therapist in adolescent residential mental health programs, adult drug court, a child abuse/neglect investigator, foster parent trainer, foster parent, private practice clinician in group and solo practice. I’ve witnessed a lot of human suffering, some avoidable, some not, and many successes. Working with families doing adoption home studies was particularly joyful.

I sought my second advanced degree (PhD, public health policy) to find answers to the problems I encountered in the above settings as well as to understand why problems and opportunities were unequally distributed among groups of people. I did find many answers and learned a great deal about the social and individual determinants of health. My clinical approach is grounded in principles of prevention science, child development, family systems, family dynamics, and in outcome research that shows that childhood experiences are associated with health outcomes later in life, that risk factors and problematic behaviors are amenable to change, and that protective factors can be developed such that they buffer the impact of risk factors. I use my clinical and analytic skills to provide diagnostic, evaluative, preventative, psychoeducational, and intervention services appropriate to the situation or circumstances at hand.

I’ve been fortunate to have good teachers and mentors, and enjoy sharing my knowledge and experience with others through teaching and mentoring students. I’ve taught public health and human development family science baccalaureate core courses to hundreds of students at Oregon State University and Linn Benton Community College.

On a more personal note, I grew up in a multicultural, multiethnic environment, my grandparents came through Ellis Island. I lost my mother at a young age, 21. I graduated from the High School for the Performing Arts, of the original “Fame” movie (I played the oboe in the music department). I love animals, dogs and birds especially, and am now learning the joys of felines; I am a parent and a partner.