Announcement | Healthcare Training Fund, Reach University & United We Heal Launch Apprenticeship College of Health to Strengthen Oregon’s Behavioral Health Workforce
Reach University and Training Fund Launch Apprenticeship College of Health to Address National Healthcare Workforce Shortages
To combat a growing mental health crisis, a new apprenticeship degree program creates a local path for workers to earn degrees without student debt and secure credentials while employed.
PORTLAND, Oregon – October 8, 2026 – The Healthcare Training Fund, a labor-management partnership focused on innovative training, education, and career development for healthcare workers and employers, and Reach University, the nation’s first and only nonprofit university advancing apprenticeship degrees, today announced the launch of the Apprenticeship College of Health (ACH) in Oregon.
ACH is a first-of-its-kind, partnership-driven apprenticeship degree program designed to address the nation’s acute shortage of job-ready, representative, and credentialed healthcare professionals. By turning existing healthcare jobs into affordable and locally-based education-to-career pathways, ACH enables working adults to earn low- or no-cost, work-embedded degrees and progress toward state and national licensure, beginning with behavioral health.
The program initially launched in Washington State in April, offering Reach University’s existing Associate of Arts in Liberal Studies, with a focus on social science, embedded within a behavioral health apprenticeship that prepares learners for careers as Substance Use Disorder Professionals. Oregon marks ACH’s second state of expansion, launched in partnership with United We Heal (UWH), a nonprofit labor-management training partnership and long-standing Healthcare Training Fund partner. The program is then expected, subject to accreditor and state approval, to expand to additional states and healthcare fields.
Approved by Oregon’s Bureau of Labor & Industries (BOLI) as a Related Instruction provider for UWH’s registered Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor apprenticeship pathway, the program enables working adults to pursue their CADC I credential after just three semesters while continuing toward a stackable associate degree and CADC II certification. This structure delivers near-immediate impact for both learners and employers.
"As a large provider of behavioral healthcare to impacted and marginalized individuals and families in the State of Oregon, workforce development is crucial," said David Kohler, people and culture officer at Cascadia Health and a founding trustee of United We Heal. "We continue to witness the value of an apprenticeship pathway in attracting representative talent to the field, improving employee retention, and boosting quality of patient care. Employees benefit greatly from being able to learn while they earn. A degree component will open a new door of opportunity and we’ll all benefit for it.”
Oregon’s Behavioral Health Crisis
Oregon is confronting a behavioral health crisis decades in the making, deepened by the opioid epidemic, the COVID-19 pandemic, and chronic underinvestment in care. According to a National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) report, 79% of Oregonians in need of substance use disorder treatment services go without access, and the state ranks highest in illicit drug use and among the most severe in alcohol abuse.
“We are thrilled to be able to support a much-needed, new pathway for training of behavioral health workers,” said Andy Friedman, executive director, United We Heal. “To successfully confront our state’s behavioral health workforce challenges requires innovative solutions that are centered in the needs of workers. ACH shares our commitment to the ‘earn while you learn’ model that keeps workers on the job, building their knowledge, while continuing to care for those in need in their communities.”
Developing Mental Health Professionals in the Workplace
ACH stands apart by redefining how behavioral talent is developed and retained. Unlike traditional programs, ACH integrates higher education directly into the workplace, where learning and patient care happen concurrently. By linking real-world practice with the degree program, ACH accelerates career progression and ensures providers are better prepared to meet the complex needs of their communities. For employers, ACH’s model shifts workforce development from short-term hiring to long-term investment, cultivating a qualified, representative pipeline.
“The Apprenticeship College of Health is uniquely positioned to make a truly meaningful impact,” said Laura Hopkins, executive director, Healthcare Training Fund. “The Healthcare Training Fund has been on the front lines of healthcare workforce development for nearly two decades, tackling the region’s most critical shortages. Through ACH, we’re leveraging United We Heal’s certification expertise and Reach University’s proven Apprenticeship Degree model to expand to new communities in the Pacific Northwest as we meet the urgent demand for skilled behavioral health professionals and strengthened care for communities throughout Washington and Oregon."
Degree seekers will earn wages from day one while progressing toward stackable degrees and industry-recognized certifications, offered without student loan debt. Unlike traditional degree programs, ACH is a fully integrated experience where a learner earns credit for the work they do on the job and can uniquely balance the demands of college, career, and caregiving through a flexible program built for working adults.
“The Apprenticeship College of Health is built on a powerful, foundational idea: the jobs of today can and are leading to the degrees of tomorrow,” said Joe E. Ross, president and CEO, Reach University. “Reach brings decades of proven experience helping working adults earn rigorous credentials on the job. Through our partnership with the Healthcare Training Fund and United We Heal, we’re advancing a shared mission—pairing their industry expertise with Reach’s nationally recognized liberal arts degree programs to drive learner upward mobility and build a workforce ready to save lives in every community.”
ACH will support incumbent workers in earning a job-embedded Associate of Arts in Liberal Studies, which includes a concentration in social science that is relevant to behavioral health. ACH will then deploy a larger stackable undergraduate-to-graduate degree pathway, offering a full suite of degree offerings rooted in affordability, work-embedded learning, and professional advancement nationwide.
ACH is now accepting applications for its Winter 2027 cohort in the states of Washington and Oregon. Employers and learners across each state are welcome to apply. To learn more about becoming an apprentice, hiring partner, or to support this work, please visit healthapprenticeship.org.
About Reach University
Reach University turns jobs into degrees, serving as our nation’s first and only nonprofit university fully dedicated to advancing on-the-job degrees, known as Apprenticeship Degrees. By fostering upward mobility, building careers and the workforce, and inspiring deeper learning through inquiry, dialogue, collaboration, and on-the-job practice, Reach, its National Center for the Apprenticeship Degree, and partners are actively solving America's labor shortages by creating fully embedded pathways for high-potential individuals to earn degrees, credentials, and professional careers in their home communities. Reach currently operates in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oregon, Texas, Tennessee, and Washington.
About Healthcare Training Fund
Healthcare Training Fund stands on healthcare’s frontlines tackling critical workforce shortages and training gaps that impact patient care every day. By uniting Washington’s largest healthcare union – representing more than 22,000 workers – with the state’s leading healthcare employers, it drives solutions to build a highly skilled, empowered, and representative workforce. Founded by SEIU Healthcare 1199NW in 2008, the Healthcare Training Fund provides robust member education benefits, engages in impactful public policy work, and designs and delivers programs that remove barriers to career advancement. Since launching its first healthcare apprenticeship programs in 2019, the Healthcare Training Fund has graduated hundreds of apprentices, spanning both allied and behavioral health, and partnered with more than 50 employers across the state. It founded the first Substance Use Disorder Professional registered apprenticeship program in the nation.
About United We Heal
Founded in 2021, United We Heal (UWH) is a nonprofit labor-management training partnership between the labor union Oregon AFSCME representing 40,000 workers, and more than 20 healthcare employers. UWH has a proven record of strengthening Oregon’s behavioral health workforce by building high-quality, industry-aligned training pathways, operating Oregon’s first BOLI-approved behavioral health pre-apprenticeship and five registered apprenticeships in healthcare, including pathways for Qualified Mental Health Associate, Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor - I, Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor - II, Qualified Mental Health Professional, and Medical Assistant roles. To date, UWH has registered more than 450 participants in career advancement training. UWH currently supports 20 high schools across one-third of Oregon’s counties and has registered 166 pre-apprenticeship participants in the past two years.
Media Inquiries:
Lauren Bauml, Reach University, (512) 923-6136, LBAUML@REACH.EDU
SOURCE Reach University