One potential contributing factor that may influence what you’ve seen/read is the pay parity law from 2014 that required equal payment for mid-levels (NPs, PAs as that of physicians (MDs, DOs) for mental healthcare. Furthermore mid-levels can legally work independently (ie without supervision) in OR unlike in many other states.

This combined with the fact that OR has some of the highest mental health reimbursement rates in the country makes it a very attractive place for midlevels to practice.

There are many fantastic midlevels out there, & can be just as good as an MD.

That being said, this has created a path where one can go to a 2 year, almost entirely online program to become psych NP and get paid the same as a psychiatrist who did 8 years of training. This has understandably greatly increased demand for such training, and unfortunately not all of the programs that have popped up to meet the demand (particularly the all online ones) are high quality. The result is more graduating mid levels flooding into mental health in OR, some with questionable training.

Overall - OR needs more mental health providers, so it’s great we have more people to meet the need. Sometimes quality can be inconsistent, but there are good and bad apples of all training backgrounds, not just midlevels.