Executive Director Ed Eide has been traveling the state, talking with LAC groups about how they can be a part of improving mental health services in Minnesota.

One of the question he’s been hearing a lot is: What will happen to services in the SOS redesign? He’s taken what he’s heard from LAC meetings in Hennepin, Dakota, Watonwan and Sherburne counties and other consumers and made sure you are being heard at the Capitol.

SOS is just one part of the picture for mental health services, but it represents the challenges we face.  Cuts are being made without transparency or consumer support.  We don’t have a lot of faith that the new SOS system will function better for patients.

Listen to Ed’s testimony here: look for the meeting of the Finance Health and Human Services Budget Division on March 23rd.  He testifies first at the beginning of the meeting.

Ed will be heading to Faribault tomorrow to work with the Rice County LAC meeting.  To learn how MHAM can help your LAC group become a better place for consumers to be heard, or if you have a personal story about SOS that would help the Legislature understand what is at stake in the redesign, please call Ed at 612-331-1630.  We’ll have more updates after he appears before the Health Care and Human Services Policy and Oversight Committee in the House on Thursday.