​Executive Director

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As a child and into his teenage years Martin Rafferty experienced homelessness and eventually became emancipated at the age of 16. He was adopted when he was 11 years old and his life up to that point would win no prize for idyllic childhoods. Shortly after he was adopted, the Kip Kinkle school shooting happened at Springfield's Thurston High School, in the same school district where Martin went to middle school. In the widespread mental health screenings that followed, Martin was diagnosed with depression, attention deficit disorder and bipolar disorder. He says the treatment was immediate with intense medication. That was not the kind of care that ultimately worked for Martin, and after about a year-and-a-half, he was able to get the kind of community-based treatment that he says made the difference. Clearly, he has had a rough-and-tumble relationship with the mental health treatment system.
          Towards his adulthood, he worked with Positive Youth Development with a focus on Homeless and Runaway Populations. Present day, he now directs Youth M.O.V.E. Oregon, a youth organization that he started, modeled after one that helped him when he was younger and in need. Under his leadership, there are currently two drop in centers and 7 weekly youth groups across the state of Oregon.  The program is based on a fusion between the "40 Developmental Assets", and a curriculum based on young adult leadership.
          He says that, in part, Youth M.O.V.E. Oregon gives young people with mental illness' leadership opportunities and advocacy skills. It puts them in places in the real world where they can have an impact, like advisory councils run by the Oregon Health Authority. He says it's "peer delivered" services — in other words, young people reaching out to other young people — are most effective. Partly, Martin says that's because teens in particular, are often skeptical of adult interference.
          He also currently sits on the national board of CAFETY (Community Alliance For the Ethical Treatment of Youth) and  Reachout.com's youth board.  In addition, Martin won the 2010 Mental Health Award of Excellence from AMH and the OCHH 2010 Ma Curtis Award. Now, he continues to work towards improving services and systems that support positive growth development

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Partial credit to Allison Frost of OPB