Mental health advocates and friends will gather for Mental Health Day at the Capitol on March 15. Key issues this year include school-linked mental health services, housing and employment programs, health insurance parity for mental illnesses, funding for children’s and adults’ residential services and more.

An issues briefing session will be at 9:30 a.m. at the St. Paul Armory, followed by a rally in the Capitol rotunda from 11:15 a.m. to noon. Visits are being scheduled with Legislators for after the rally.

The event is sponsored by the Mental Health Legislative Network, a coalition of nearly 40 organizations working to improve mental health services in Minnesota.

Free buses are being provided from greater Minnesota.

Pickups will be made in Virginia, Duluth, Cloquet, Pine City, North Branch and Wyoming; Baxter, Little Falls and St. Cloud; Kerkhoven, Willmar, Litchfield and Cokato; Moorhead and Fergus Falls; Winona and Rochester; and Minneapolis and St. Paul. For more information, contact the network co-chair of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Minnesota at 651-645-2948 or go to www.namihelps.org.