Behind every student success story, there are dedicated people helping it happen. Our licensed employees bring expertise, compassion, and care to that work every day, supporting students, educators, and schools across our region.
At Clackamas ESD, our licensed team includes about 180 staff members in at least 20 different types of roles. They teach students, lead professional learning for staff, support social skills development, and provide speech, physical, and occupational therapy. Their work reaches students, educators, families, and communities across Clackamas County.
Their work reflects our mission to lead, serve, and innovate for learning. We are grateful for every licensed employee and the meaningful difference they make each day. This Licensed Employee Appreciation Week, meet a few of our licensed staff members and learn how they serve our community.
For nearly 30 years, Travis Held has been doing work that is both deeply personal and profoundly important, helping young children develop critical skills while supporting families through some of their child’s most formative and challenging years. As an early intervention occupational therapist with Clackamas Education Service District, Travis spends most of his days not in an office or clinic, but out in the community, meeting families where life is actually happening.
That is exactly how he likes it.
“I like it messy, and I like it real,” Travis says when describing his work in family homes. For him, occupational therapy is not about creating perfect conditions in a clinical setting. It is about helping children and families build skills in the places they live, eat, play, and grow every day.
More Than a Job Title
When people ask Travis what he does, he keeps it simple: he coaches families on how to help their children learn and develop. While his title is early intervention occupational therapist, he knows that job titles do not always tell the full story. Much of what he does is empowering parents, helping them feel more confident, more capable, and less alone.
That mindset shapes every visit.
What a Day in the Life Looks Like
A typical day for Travis includes four to six home visits across Gladstone, Oregon City, Milwaukie, Molalla, and Canby. During those visits, he works closely with caregivers to identify routines that matter most to them, including mealtime, playtime, communication, and independence, and then helps them find practical ways to support their child’s growth within everyday life.
Helping Families Feel Empowered
His goal is never to add stress.
“Early intervention should never be stressful,” Travis says. “I should come in, and when I leave, they feel more empowered and not stressed out.” That philosophy helps explain why he has remained so passionate about the work after three decades. While paperwork can be overwhelming at times, the work itself continues to give him purpose. In fact, he says he still feels grateful for it every day.
Finding the Right Path
That gratitude has deep roots.
Travis originally thought he might become a physical therapist, but while volunteering at an Easter Seals camp as a young adult, he discovered a natural connection with children with disabilities. Later, after learning more about occupational therapy, he realized it was exactly the path he wanted to pursue. When he landed in early intervention early in his career, almost by accident and thanks to an assignment he did not fully understand at the time, it turned out to be the perfect fit.
And families have benefited ever since.
Defining Success
Over the years, Travis has supported children with a wide range of developmental delays and disabilities, including autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, and other neurological or genetic conditions. But ask him what success looks like, and he will not point first to a checklist of milestones. Instead, he talks about parents feeling stronger and more confident.
“If the parent can say, ‘I just feel more successful as a parent,’ I’ve done my job,” he says.
The Heart of the Work
That perspective says a lot about who Travis is.
He understands that many families are simply doing their best to get through the day. He knows progress does not always come quickly or neatly. And he knows that sometimes the most meaningful outcome is helping a parent feel seen, supported, and equipped for the journey ahead. As one of the first professionals many families meet after learning their child may need extra support, Travis plays a critical role not just in intervention, but also in reassurance.
It is work that requires patience, empathy, flexibility, and skill. It also requires heart.
Life Beyond Work
Outside of work, Travis enjoys traveling, fly fishing, camping, backpacking, and spending as much time outdoors as possible.
