New executive director named at Clatsop Behavioral Healthcare

After a month marked by transition, Clatsop Behavioral Healthcare has appointed Shyra Merila as the mental health agency's new executive director.

Merila, who has been with Clatsop Behavioral Healthcare for eight years, has served as deputy director for the past year and has also led clinical services. She was appointed interim executive director in September after Amy Baker accepted a new position as behavioral health initiative director in Gov. Tina Kotek's administration.

Clatsop County contracts with Clatsop Behavioral Healthcare for mental health and substance abuse treatment.

"Things have been going really well," Merila said. "I think it was as seamless of a transition as it possibly could have been. I've been Amy's right-hand person for the majority of my career with CBH, and I've been supporting the organization from an operations and internal controls and internal supports perspective for years, and so I think that the staff trust me."

Merila was born and raised in Clatsop County. She received her master's degree in education and counseling psychology from Western Carolina University and served as a regional clinical director for Griffith Centers for Children in Colorado before moving back to the North Coast, where she quickly climbed the ranks at Clatsop Behavioral Healthcare.

Merila said Michael Skehan, who has been with the organization for about a year, will be taking her place as deputy director.

"He has decades of health care administration experience in different hospital systems across the state, and the team love him," she said. "He's going to do a fantastic job supporting operations internally going forward, so I think we're in a really good place."

Over the last several years, Clatsop Behavioral Healthcare, which is based in Warrenton, has substantially expanded its programs and services, creating a rapid access clinic in Astoria and branching out into supportive housing in Seaside, Warrenton and Astoria. Moving forward, Merila said she wants to continue refining and polishing operations so staff have the support to keep doing those programs well.

She added that she's grateful for the support she's seen from the board as the nonprofit has navigated the transition.

"I think that they've been really supportive to me and really supportive of this change and this transition," Merila said. "It's really critical for organizations like ours to have a strong, supportive and consistent board, and we have that."