Mental Health Advocacy Day Results

Mental Health Advocacy Day 2016 March 15th was Kansas Mental Health Advocacy Day at the Capitol, sponsored by the Kansas Mental Health Coalition. Over 200 citizen advocates, including people with mental health issues, family members, and people who work in Mental Health Care, gathered to learn about and discuss mental health issues facing the Kansas Legislature in the 2016 Legislative Session, and to meet with our own Legislators, to discuss our concerns. We heard from state Senators and Representatives from around Kansas. We learned about 5 major issues facing the Legislature, including the shortage of inpatient mental health facilities at Osawatomie and Larned State Hospitals, the funding cut from Community Mental Health Centers (including Johnson County Mental Health and Wyandot, Inc), the Jason Flatt Act for Suicide Prevention Education (which requires that teachers and principals receive suicide prevention training), Medicaid expansion (currently KanCare is available only to families who earn less than one third of the poverty level, and the state has refused to participate in the federal Medicaid expansion program), and Medicaid Step Therapy (a bill that has passed the state Senate, and gone to a conference committee, so that Step Therapy can be considered by the state House, which would require that Medicaid patients try the cheapest medications and “fail” on them before they can be put on more effective medication). The Kansas Mental Health Coalition has put together a state wide group of Grassroots Mental Health Advocates to maintain contact with their own state Senators and Representatives throughout the legislative sessions. For more information about becoming a Grassroots Advocate, go to Kansas Mental Health Coalition.com.