News & Notes

Three years ago, Jeremy was practically afraid to leave the house. The outside world seemed too scary. “It had gotten to the point where he was pretty much living on a cot in his dad’s house,” said Amy Warren, who was Jeremy’s therapist after he started coming to the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center at the end of 2011. Jeremy first noticed his obsessive-compulsive disorder tendencies when he was 15. The older he got, the worse the OCD became. To the point where when h

The acronym is fitting. SOAR. The program’s full name – SSI (Supplemental Security Income)/SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance) Outreach, Access and Recovery – is a mouthful. But what is it? SOAR is a national project that expedites the disability application process for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness and have a mental illness. In short, SOAR – part of the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center’s Benefits and Entitlements Team (BET) – is a program

For Chris Ford, kickball and mental health are closely related. When he and his wife, Marisa, moved to Lawrence about eight years ago, they moved into a house on Vermont Street. From their living room, Ford could see kickball games going on across the street at South Park. “I thought that looked like so much fun,” said Ford, a Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center team leader. Ford was looking for something different to do at the time. He had left his job in the financial

When the Bert Nash health home opens August 1st, it won’t involve new construction, or a new address. There’s a good reason for that. “A health home is not a building,” said Amy Warren, who heads up the program’s six-member team. So what is a health home? “It’s the whole-person approach,” Warren said. “We will be providing whole-person care with a focus on wellness.” Or as Patricia Roach Smith, Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center chief operating officer, said, “This is i

Sunny, the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center therapy-dog-in-training, made some new friends this summer. The 7-month-old Lab/Golden Retriever mix will go through training this summer and fall to become certified as a therapy dog with her finally putting on her therapy dog vest after her training is completed. And Sunny’s training will be funded in part by a donation from the Immanuel Lutheran Church’s Vacation Bible School. The pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church, Randy

Elementary students who participated in the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center Summer Program receive certificates. Great job, kids! Special thanks to Pinckney School for use of the classroom space, and thanks to the Bert Nash staff for providing another fun and learning-filled Summer Program.

Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center will turn 64 on Saturday. The Bert Nash Mental Health Clinic, as it was originally called, opened on July 5, 1950. Two years after the death of Bert Nash, the renowned University of Kansas psychologist, community organizers created the clinic as a “living memorial” to the man whom Dr. Karl Menninger called “my most distinguished student.” Bert Nash had devoted his career to improving the lives of children and families through education

Flying through the air at 120 mph, Mathew Faulk feels, well, grounded. “Skydiving is therapeutic,” said Faulk, a member of the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center homeless outreach team who is also a skydiver. “Not to make a pun, but it’s very grounding. I have degrees in philosophy and I tend to think about things, but when you’re skydiving you can’t really sit and think about abstract thoughts. You have to focus on what you’re doing.” Skydiving has been a focus of Faul

When Don Grosdidier retires June 30, he will certainly have left his mark. Not only on the school district, which he has been part of for 28 years, but on the Eudora community, which he has been part of for much longer. More than brick-and-mortar projects, and there have been plenty of those during Grosdidier’s tenure, his proudest accomplishment will be the students who go on to lead healthy, happy and productive lives. One program that had a life-changing impact on students

It used to be, Jim Kytasaari had it all backward. He would treat loneliness with isolation. He would treat depression with a depressant. It was a vicious cycle. “There was no way out of it,” Kytasaari said. But there was a way out. And that way out led Kytasaari to the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center. But, first, Kytasaari hit rock bottom. “I totally had a crash about six years ago,” Kytasaari said. “Everything fell apart.” Kytasaari was homeless at the time. He was

Rosemary Corbin likes running because it is good for her health, and not just her physical health. “It’s therapeutic for me,” said Corbin, who is supervisor of the Access Center at the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center; the staff of the Access Center conducts client intakes and assessments. “Whenever I start my running, I notice an improvement in my mood. When I’m working out, my sleep improves. I tend to make healthier choices; more so than when I’m not working out.”

Mariah can remember feeling very depressed when she was in grade school but it was not something she talked to anyone about. However, when she was 17, her depression was so severe she attempted suicide- twice. After her second attempt, she was hospitalized at Stormont Vail in Topeka. Following her hospital release, she was referred to the Bert Nash Center by her doctor. “My emotions were out of control and they overwhelmed me. I knew what was happening to me but I didn’t know