LAKE OSWEGO, Ore. - The family of a missing Lake Oswego man is getting desperate and turning to the public for help.  It’s been 19 days since anyone in Jeff Clausen’s family has seen or heard from him. 

He was last seen by his co-workers at the Lake Oswego office of Farmer’s Insurance the morning of June 12, driving his white 2003 Chevy Suburban with Oregon license plate # 915-BRY.  The vehicle has tinted windows and a Lake Oswego Lacrosse sticker on the window.

Christine Vanek-Clausen, Clausen's wife, told KATU News they were a typical Lake Oswego family.  They lived in a five-bedroom home on Touchstone.  They raised three boys together.  But in recent months, she says the economic downturn began affecting her husband’s business, their personal finances, and his outlook on life. She says their home is on the verge of foreclosure, and she only recently learned he was trying to short-sell it.

“He definitely saw it as doomsday,” she said.  “We had to change our lifestyle, we changed out our vehicles, our home.  He just couldn't see beyond not having the money.”

Dallas Vanek, Clausen’s stepson, says, “He changed so much in the last year - he changed into a completely different person.”

In May, after Clausen’s family says he attempted suicide twice, he went to Providence St. Vincent Hospital for mental health treatment.  They say he received two weeks of inpatient therapy and then outpatient treatment for the two weeks before he disappeared.  During his last three days of outpatient treatment, he made an agreement with his family that he could drive himself to and from the clinic on Southwest Barnes Road.

Vanek-Clausen says her husband left home the morning of Friday, June 12 in his white Suburban for what she thought was his last day of treatment.  She only later learned he'd actually been discharged the day before.  Neither Clausen nor his counselors had notified his family.

Fighting back tears, she says, “They should not have discharged him.  I absolutely will go to my grave going this man should not have been discharged.”

Gary Walker, a spokesperson for Providence Health Systems, says he can’t talk about a specific case due to patient confidentiality laws.  But KATU News has learned it is not standard practice for hospitals to notify family members of adult patients when they are discharged, even when it’s mental health treatment, unless there is a case of extraordinary concern.  It is standard practice for mental health providers to release a patient with a continuing treatment plan.

Lake Oswego police Captain Don Forman says investigators haven’t found any activity on Clausen’s cell phone, credit cards or bank accounts, “and normally we would have, so this is unusual.”

If given the chance to send a message directly to her husband, Vanek-Clausen said: “Please come home.  We love you.  We miss you, and only want you, not any materials things.  We only want you.”

Anyone with information about this case is asked to contact Lake Oswego police at (503) 635-0250.