CHD adds three leaders to executive team to strengthen county services

Union County’s main mental health and public health agency has added three leaders to its executive team, a change that matters because Center for Human Development runs the services many residents turn to for crisis response, addiction treatment and long-term support.

CHD named Daisy Thompson Duren, Celeste Tate and Shane Stenquist to its Administrative Council, the self-managed team that runs day-to-day operations and acts as the organization’s CEO. CHD’s leadership page lists Duren as director of behavioral health, Tate as director of finance and control, and Stenquist as director of community relations and marketing. Duren joined CHD in 2016, while Tate and Stenquist joined in 2026.

The move lands at an agency that describes itself as Union County’s local health department and community mental health program. Based in La Grande, CHD says it provides alcohol and drug services, mental health care, developmental disabilities services, public health, prevention programming and veterans services to residents across Eastern Oregon. CHD also says no one will be denied clinical services because of inability to pay, a policy that remains important for families facing unstable income, insurance gaps or a mental health emergency.

CHD’s structure shows why the leadership update carries public weight. The organization’s Administrative Council sits alongside interim co-directors of behavioral health, a director of human resources, a director of operations and a director of public health, reflecting a team-based model rather than a single executive office. CHD says it adopted self-directed teams in 1992 to save costs and allow more flexibility and innovation, a framework that has shaped how the agency handles local demand for years.

That demand is not abstract in Union County. CHD operates a 24-hour Behavioral Health Mobile Crisis Team that works with law enforcement, EMS and community organizations, and it maintains an Outreach Center in La Grande funded through Oregon’s Behavioral Health Resource Network and Measure 110 dollars. Those services place CHD at the center of local responses to overdose, mental health crises and connections to care.

For county residents, the addition of Duren, Tate and Stenquist signals continuity more than disruption. CHD is expanding its leadership bench while preserving the team model that has long guided service delivery in La Grande, and the next test will be whether that structure keeps pace with the county’s ongoing need for accessible, coordinated care.