News & Notes

Kyle Roggenkamp has a unique relationship with the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center. In his role as human resources director for Ballard Community Services, at the Penn House location, he interacts almost daily with the Bert Nash staff. He is also a client. “It’s all about the tools,” Roggenkamp said. “I fully understand that without certain tools I’m not going to progress in my life as far as I want to. “ Recently, when he was at the Bert Nash Center for an appointme

Kyle Roggenkamp: “I know what it’s like to stand on the backs of great people. That’s what Bert Nash is, it’s an opportunity to stand on the backs of giants, of great people, and have that be a part of your support.” Jon Stewart, CEO of Heartland Community Health Center: “The inter-relationship between mental health and physical health is still under-appreciated in our American health care system. At Heartland, we are grateful for the innovative ways that the Bert Nash Center

Emily Farley, Bert Nash development specialist, talked about the Center’s programs and services during an interview May 28 on KLWN 1320 AM. Thank you, KLWN and Eric Holcomb, for the coverage!

May is Mental Health Month, and as the month winds down, Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center shares a few success stories of client recovery. Jackie Lira and TJ Reyes Jackie Lira knew something wasn’t right. She just didn’t know what it was. Or why. “I essentially wanted to jump out of my own skin,” she said. “And I couldn’t fix it." A couple of months earlier, Jackie and TJ Reyes’ son, Deacon, had been born premature. He arrived 10 weeks early and weighed only 2 pounds.

Nicole Rials, Bert Nash Access Center team leader, was a guest this morning on Marcia Epstein’s Talk With ME program. The interview will air at 10:00 a.m. Monday, May 18th, on Lawrencehits.com. Thank you, Marcia, for your coverage of mental health issues! #MentalHealthAwarenessMonth ‪#TalkAboutMentalHealth ‪#EndTheStigma

Recipients of this year’s Bert Nash Pioneer Award are both pioneers. Each in her own way. Shirley Martin-Smith and Teresa Treanor were honored April 20th during the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center’s annual Pioneer Celebration, which recognizes community leaders for their support of mental health in Douglas County. The Pioneer Award “is given to an individual whose efforts and achievements to secure accessible and comprehensive community mental health services for all

It seemed fitting when Ganis Himes accepted the Sandra Shaw Spirit Award at the Bert Nash Pioneer Celebration on April 20 that she asked her fellow after-hour screeners to join her. Himes, who supervises the after-hour screeners for Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center, thinks of herself as one of them. And she is. Himes, who started doing mental health screens for Bert Nash in 1992, was one of the first screeners in the state. “I was working as a case manager at the time

Learn about the Bert Nash Health Connections program at a health fair from 1:00 to 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 23, 2015, in the second-floor meeting rooms at the Community Health Facility, 200 Maine St. in Lawrence. The purpose of the health fair is to promote the Health Connections program to the community. Representatives from other community partners will be on hand, including Douglas County Housing Authority, Just Food, Kansas Legal Services, Lawrence-Douglas County Heal

It is never too late to get help. Which is why the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center offers a program geared specifically toward older adults. “I have worked with people in their 90s,” said Ruth Shadel, the Bert Nash therapist who started the Center’s Successful Aging Program in 2004. In fact, since they are aware that the time is ticking, elderly individuals may be more inclined to get medical help. Many people on their own refer themselves to the doctors to treat any

Julie Berndsen has been singing since she was a young girl. She sang publicly for the first time when she was in sixth grade. She performed in a community musical of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” That was the start of her singing career. “People said you should keep on doing that, so I kept on doing that,” Berndsen said. She’s still doing that. Berndsen, whose day job is working as a waiver facilitator (coordinating care for children’s mental health services

When Sondra’s former husband came back from Iraq in 2004 he suffered from severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). As a result of his PTSD, he became abusive and violent. Sondra knew she needed to protect herself, so she moved to a shelter for victims of domestic violence. At the shelter she suffered from her own PTSD along with ‘dissociative amnesia’. Dissociative amnesia is a condition that occurs when someone blocks out stressful events or violent episodes. In 2006 So

Tanya Guy had plenty of reasons to give thanks this holiday season. “I’m energetic. I feel healthy. I’m not as depressed. My mental health is a lot better. I have a better outlook about life,” she said. Guy didn’t used to feel this way. “I was really over weight, really out of shape,” she said. “I was smoking cigarettes. I would sit in my apartment and watch TV. I was eating TV dinners. I weighed 240 pounds, depressed, in and out of the hospital. My sugars were sky high, out