Kevin Fitts is a mental health consumer advocate who lives in Oregon. He and his organization Oregon Mental Health Consumer’s Association succeeded in getting House Bill 2980 passed in the Oregon State Legislature in July 2021, which funded four peer respites for ongoing operation.

On the psychcrisis.org podcast we're hunting for ways to change mental health crisis care, and the system that provides it. We're asking our guests, with their expertise from different parts of the process, to help us figure out what to do.

What I want to know:

• How did the peer respite funding bill get passed?


• What was important to keep in mind when trying to get funding via legislation? What was different between your attempt and others that didn’t succeed?


• What people and skills were required?


• What is in the way of this funding method being more useful to peer respites?


• It seems like many peer respites and other projects are constantly threatened with an end to their funding, or struggling to find enough funding. What would need to happen to make survival threats no longer a primary concern for peer respites?

⁠Oregon Mental Health Consumers Association⁠

⁠⁠psychcrisis.org⁠⁠⁠ is working to change how we respond to mental health crises.

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