LGBTQ+ recovery community devastated by Pride Institute inpatient program closure
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The Pride Institute will close its inpatient addiction treatment program at its Eden Prairie location on Wednesday, shuttering one of the few programs of its kind in the region.
It started in 1986 as a response to the AIDS epidemic and for nearly 40 years, centered providing a safe recovery space exclusively for LGBTQ+ individuals.
People in the recovery community say they are devastated by its closure.
“Pride Institute has been a symbol of hope and healing for thousands of LGBTQIA+ individuals. Its loss is not just the end of a treatment center — it’s the loss of a lifeline for some of the most vulnerable members of our society,” said Molly Sinclair, a certified peer recovery specialist.
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The center broke the news in early December: Pride’s outpatient program in Minneapolis will continue to focus on LGBTQ+ individuals, but starting Jan. 1, the Eden Prairie location will transition to outpatient services for any adult seeking treatment for substance use and co-occurring mental health conditions, regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation.
Pride’s inpatient services will instead be offered in Palm Springs, Calif. The Pride Institute, which is owned by Universal Health Services, Inc., will also move under the umbrella Foundations Minnesota.
“Changes in the Minnesota treatment landscape require us to update our service offerings to remain sustainable and mission-driven — and to support expanded access to treatment for more populations,” reads a statement emailed to MPR News from Stuart Morrical, director of business development at the Pride Institute.
An employee said the company announced layoffs for an estimated 90 to 95 percent of Pride’s staff.
Pride Institute’s residential program has just over 40 beds. Employees say fewer than 42 clients will be forced to seek care elsewhere. Advocates worry the greater impact is on the many people who will not seek addiction treatment in the future.
“I see people that are losing hope or are just delaying addressing their mental health and substance use because they don’t see a path forward. Because a part of that path, Pride Institute, is no longer in front of them as an option,” said Chris Lorenz, a licensed alcohol and drug counselor with The Aliveness Project.
Lorenz said the challenges are compounded by cuts to other social services. Pride employees report most of their clients face housing instability and rely on Medicaid and other state assistance.
Lorenz graduated from Pride in 2011 and has since referred many people who are LGBTQ+ or who have HIV to its programs. He’s now working with other providers to find helpful resources.
Other addiction treatment centers offer separate tracks for LGBTQ+ individuals, but employees and former clients say Pride offered a unique space. Counselors and staff are LGBTQ+ themselves or specifically trained in issues their clients face.
“Their ability to be who they are, to be able to reveal themselves to their counselors, their providers, their peers, really allows them to address what’s really going on with them. They don’t have to lie or be afraid of talking about what really brings them there,” said Lorenz.
Matthew S., another Pride alum, said it was a “game changer” to be in a space dedicated to affirming care. He had tried the LGBTQ+ track at another addiction treatment center and said he was often the only queer person in the room.
MPR News is not using his full name to protect his privacy.
“There would be people making horrifying jokes about queer people, about HIV positive people, of which I am one, and so I’d often have to really advocate for myself with staff,” said Matthew. “It felt like I was doing double duty of both trying to focus on my recovery and advocate for myself as a queer individual in those spaces.”
A challenging landscape
Brian Zirbes, executive director of the MN Association of Resources for Recovery and Chemical Health, said low reimbursement rates have been behind the closures of many providers in Minnesota.
For over a decade, he said the state did not adjust reimbursements rates for inflation or cost of living. The price of providing services eventually exceeded what providers were reimbursed for.
Residential programs had the highest gap between the cost of providing services and the rate at which programs were reimbursed, according to a 2024 legislative report. Low intensity residential services received $137.06 less per day than their modeled cost.
“Not a great long term business model for anything,” said Zirbes.
The Minnesota Legislature passed a bill last session that would increase the reimbursement rate; the increase will go into effect once approved by the federal government. But Zirbes said it’s too late for many.
Minnesota had a net loss of 47 providers between 2022 to 2024, according to Zirbes.
“It’s a reality of the world we live in, in Minnesota, that residential care is very difficult to affordably provide,” said Stacy Rivers, chief clinical officer for treatment service provider EOSIS.
EOSIS oversees Latitudes at Tapestry in St. Paul. Rivers and others report Latitudes will now be the only residential program in the Midwest to exclusively serve LGBTQ+ people.
Rivers said Pride’s residential program closure marks a significant loss of resources as individuals in the LGBTQ+ community are at a higher risk of substance use disorders. Latitudes has 22 residential beds, about half of Pride’s capacity.
“In general, I think that we as a state are struggling to afford and support the kinds of services that folks need,” she said.
