News & Notes

My mother came from Russia and my grandfather from Greece. The family history is seriously steeped in traditions. Most of my family has passed away now, but the traditions remain. Christmas and its traditions have a deep significance in the lives of many – all across the world. Christmas signs on the front porch, starlit trees and the gifts beneath them, there is nothing to not like about the holiday season! And let us not forget the delicacies that we get to savor throughout

You don’t have to be a musician to play music or appreciate good music. At least it’s not a requirement of music therapy. You may simply wish to sing – your voice is an instrument after all. Or, you may want to visit a guitar store and get yourself a guitar. Plenty of guitar stores sell guitars for beginners, and it’s the perfect instrument for music therapy because it’s so easy to start playing. Or you could simply listen to a soothing music that can help overcome your anxie

The Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center and the Lawrence-Douglas County Housing Authority have received an award of $75,000 from the Kansas Housing Resources Corp. for continuation of the Community Support Services HOME Tenant Based Rental Assistance program. The funds will be administered by the Lawrence-Douglas County Housing Authority and are available December 1st. Collaboration between the Bert Nash Center and the Lawrence-Douglas County Housing Authority, the Commu

IOP, as it’s called, can be thought of like a “recovery” menu. Included on that menu is a whole range of mental health services that are available, depending on the client’s needs. The intensive outpatient program (IOP) at the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center has been helping Douglas County residents since 1997 – and keeping them out of state and private hospitals whenever possible. “IOP is a program that is in lieu of being in the hospital,” said Eunice Ruttinger, Ad

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