News & Notes

My name is Anna Palermo and I have had the privilege of working on the Bert Nash Adult Outpatient Therapy Team since November 2021. My...

2022 was a year of big changes for the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center. CARF accreditation, salary market adjustments for staff,...

My journey into mental health started in 2001 when I was a freshman at KU trying to figure out what I wanted to study. I knew I wanted to...

My name is Beth, or Miss Beth as kids like to call me, and I work as a Client Care Specialist in the Child and Family department. I have...

For Phoenix, it’s a matter of trust. “I didn’t trust people, that was my thing before,” she said. But at the Bert Nash Center, she has found people she can trust. “Everyone I have worked with at Bert Nash has been trustworthy, they’ve been supportive, they’ve been understanding,” she said. “I trust the people at Bert Nash.” Phoenix began her involvement with the Bert Nash Center in 2007. Looking back, she wishes she had reached out earlier. “I would have originally been a cli

For Phoenix, it’s a matter of trust. “I didn’t trust people, that was my thing before,” she said. But at the Bert Nash Center, she has...

It was about three years ago when I was dropped off at the Lawrence Community Shelter with nothing but the clothes on my back. I had no...

Kyra is second-generation Bert Nash Center team member and was recruited position by family and friends who are now also co-workers. Kyra is experienced and highly skilled in a variety of interpersonal impact and healing arts. As a Certified Behavioral Health Technician, she has training in behavior modification and in supportive counseling. The Bert Nash Center is fortunate to count her as part of our team. At Baldwin Junior High School, Kyra built relationships immediately

Note: The names for this story have been changed. If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, seeking emotional support, or feeling suicidal, call or text 988 or call the Kansas Suicide Prevention HQ direct counseling line at 785-841-2345. Every day for a year, Ann’s son wanted to die. “Literally, for one year, every day, he talked about how terrible everything was, that he didn’t deserve to be alive, and that he wanted to kill himself,” Ann said. “For a year, he was like

Charlie Kuszmaul had an idea to do something that hadn’t been done before, to take therapy services to where the students were — in the schools. Twenty-five years later, the cutting-edge school-based mental health program, WRAP (Working to Recognize Alternative Possibilities), is still reaching students in Douglas County schools. Kuszmaul, a former Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center therapist, retired from in 2016, but his vision for WRAP lives on. The groundbreaking pr

Note: July is Minority Mental Health Awareness Month. Mary Kirkendoll is all about initiating meaningful conversations. Mary Kirkendoll...

Shelly Reinke isn’t the same person who came to the Bert Nash Community Mental Health for the first time about a year ago. Shelly Reinke...

Coming into peer support work validated so many things for me. I once heard a peer say, “peer support work made me see that my pain and...

Dr. Anthony Strickland wears many hats. Dr. Anthony Strickland He’s the chief medical officer for a hospital in Excelsior Springs, Mo. He...

In the early 1990s, Beverly Smith Billings and Judy Wright ended up serving together on the board of the local AAUW (American Association...

Principal Jayci Roberson is proud of her Woodlawn Elementary team. That team includes WRAP specialist Cam Cameron. Jayci Roberson, Woodlawn Elementary Principal “Cam is an exceptional and valued member of our team,” Jayci said. “Our Riverhawks come to school with unique needs, and WRAP allows an unparalleled continuity of care. It is truly a gift that we can give our students. WRAP is an in-school mental health program and a collaborative partnership between the Bert Nash Ce

Grateful for Skills, Connections, and Stability

Before I felt so broken, now I feel more alive.

As the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center begins the process of becoming a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC), Marsha Page-White will be the point person leading the Center through that transition. Page-White, senior director of Innovation & Implementation Since joining the Bert Nash Center team three years ago, Marsha has served as the director of Adult Services. With the Center beginning the process of implementing the CCBHC model, Marsha’s focus wil