Front-line mental health worker Krissy Swanger participates in the Eugene breakout session
A big thank you to all that braved the threat of snow last week to be part of our forum on mental health and addictions issues in transformation. We had a great turnout of consumers, front-line workers, family members, students, and elected officials who shared stories of success and failure in our current system as well as ways we can make improvements on the system to make it truly work for everyone. It was amazing to see how much energy and passion people brought to this critical issue and the hunger out there for real and substantial change. You can see a slideshow of pictures from our forum here.
The stories shared by our panelists as well as the information gathered at our small group breakout sessions was submitted to the Oregon Health Policy Board for their consideration as they finished their final proposal on the implementation of Community Care Organizations (CCOs). Yesterday the Oregon Health Policy Board approved its final propsal for the creation of CCOs for consideration by the legisature next month. You can view the public comment submitted from our forum here. You can view the final CCO proposal here.
As the legislature begins to consider the Oregon Health Policy Board proposal you can continue to use our web form to share your experience with the addictions and mental health system. We will continue to use your stories to educate decision makers as the transformation process moves forward.
However, as was stated Tuesday night, our fight for an addictions and mental health system that really works for workers, consumers, and advocates continues. We will need to continue to fight for better access, better staffing ratios, and more rights for front-line workers in order to truly have quality services for all. Our next step will be to watch the process as it unfolds at the legislature in February and at Oregon Health Policy Board meetings throughout the year. If you would like to stay involved please fill out this form and share your story.