Rebekah Schiefer, LCSW
Council - 2nd Term
2019 -2023

Although not a native of the Pacific Northwest, Rebekah has been living there long enough to call it her true home. Rebekah developed an interest in healthcare in the mid 1990’s while providing HIV and reproductive health education through a peer outreach program. After completing her undergraduate studies, she worked as a community health educator before completing a Master of Social Work from Portland State University. She spent a few years working with people living with chronic mental illness before coming to Family Medicine as a behavioral health consultant in 2011.

When Rebekah is not in clinic, she is the Director of Behavioral Health Education for the OHSU Department of Family Medicine Residency program. In her role as a behavioral science educator, she works closely with physician learners as they develop patient centered communication skills, learn family oriented approaches to care, and develop the skills to treat common mental health problems in primary care. Rebekah is an active member of the Oregon Psychoanalytic Center and finds that the quality of any healthcare intervention is defined by the therapeutic relationship.

When Rebekah attended her first Balint Intensive in 2014, she felt that she had found her people in family medicine and she was hooked. She currently co-facilitates a resident Balint group and is actively recruiting for a faculty group to start in Spring 2019.