diff --git a/neon_llm_core/utils/personas/provider.py b/neon_llm_core/utils/personas/provider.py
index aa81702..3e9f128 100644
--- a/neon_llm_core/utils/personas/provider.py
+++ b/neon_llm_core/utils/personas/provider.py
@@ -65,21 +65,26 @@ def personas(self):
 
     @personas.setter
     def personas(self, data):
-        now = int(time())
         LOG.debug(f'Setting personas={data}')
-        if data and isinstance(data, list):
-            self._personas = data
-            self._persona_last_sync = now
-            self._persona_handlers_state.clean_up_personas(ignore_items=self._personas)
-        elif now - self._persona_last_sync > self.PERSONA_STATE_TTL:
+        if self._should_reset_personas(data=data):
             LOG.warning(f'Persona state TTL expired, resetting personas config')
             self._personas = []
             self._persona_handlers_state.init_default_handlers()
+        else:
+            self._personas = data
+        self._persona_handlers_state.clean_up_personas(ignore_items=self._personas)
+
+    def _should_reset_personas(self, data) -> bool:
+        return (not (self._persona_last_sync == 0 and data)
+                and int(time()) - self._persona_last_sync > self.PERSONA_STATE_TTL)
 
     def _fetch_persona_config(self):
         response = send_mq_request(vhost=LLM_VHOST,
                                    request_data={"service_name": self.service_name},
-                                   target_queue=PersonasProvider.GET_CONFIGURED_PERSONAS_QUEUE)
+                                   target_queue=PersonasProvider.GET_CONFIGURED_PERSONAS_QUEUE,
+                                   timeout=60)
+        if 'items' in response:
+            self._persona_last_sync = int(time())
         response_data = response.get('items', [])
         personas = []
         for item in response_data:
diff --git a/neon_llm_core/utils/personas/state.py b/neon_llm_core/utils/personas/state.py
index 94be76d..103e69b 100644
--- a/neon_llm_core/utils/personas/state.py
+++ b/neon_llm_core/utils/personas/state.py
@@ -42,7 +42,6 @@ def __init__(self, service_name: str, ovos_config: dict):
         self.service_name = service_name
         self.ovos_config = ovos_config
         self.mq_config = ovos_config.get('MQ', {})
-        self.init_default_handlers()
 
     def init_default_handlers(self):
         self._created_items = {}
@@ -84,5 +83,9 @@ def clean_up_personas(self, ignore_items: List[PersonaModel] = None):
         ignored_persona_ids = set(persona.id for persona in ignore_items or [])
         personas_to_remove = connected_personas - ignored_persona_ids
         for persona_id in personas_to_remove:
-            LOG.info(f'Removing persona_id = {persona_id}')
-            self._created_items.pop(persona_id, None)
+            self.remove_persona(persona_id=persona_id)
+
+    def remove_persona(self, persona_id: str):
+        LOG.info(f'Removing persona_id = {persona_id}')
+        self._created_items[persona_id].stop()
+        self._created_items.pop(persona_id, None)
diff --git a/requirements/requirements.txt b/requirements/requirements.txt
index 4662454..29b0f14 100644
--- a/requirements/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements/requirements.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # networking
-neon-mq-connector>=0.7.1a4
+neon-mq-connector>=0.7.2a1
 ovos-utils~=0.0.32
 ovos-config~=0.0.10
 pydantic==2.6.3
\ No newline at end of file