News & Notes

Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center’s new director of Child and Family Services is a familiar face. Christina Mann, a former Bert Nash WRAP (Working to Recognize Alternative Possibilities) team leader, was announced Thursday as the Center’s new Child and Family Services director. “Christina brings strong leadership, clinical and partnership skills to the Center,” said Patricia Roach Smith, Bert Nash chief operating officer, who announced Mann’s hiring. Mann is excited ab

One man’s junk is another man’s treasure. At least so the saying goes. For a hoarder, it may all seem like treasure. That’s the problem. “They have a hard time distinguishing if something is of value,” said Loraine Herndon, “To them, it all looks valuable. That’s a classic characteristic of many hoarders. They see value in things that other people would not.” That’s when things can become a problem, and those things can take over a person’s life … and home. “Hoarding makes ho

A sendoff party for former Bert Nash staffer and Mrs. Kansas Elizabeth Stephens was held August 17th at the Lawrence Community Shelter. Stephens, who is the family programs director at the shelter, will compete in the Mrs. America pageant this month in Tucson, Ariz. The preliminary competition will be Aug. 26 with the finals on Aug. 28. Stephens is competing to raise awareness for poverty and homelessness. “It’s all about the work we do and advocating for others,” she said.

Students are starting a new school year, and so is Frances Rico. She is the new WRAP worker at Liberty Memorial Central Middle School. WRAP (Working to Recognize Alternative Possibilities) is a Bert Nash program that goes where the students are — in the schools. “WRAP is an extra support link for the kids, staff and family members that targets anything from struggles at home, to peer interactions, skill building and crisis interventions,” Rico said. “Through the program, stud

She’s a blogger, a ballroom dancer, a motivational speaker and a pageant titleholder. Now she can add another achievement to her resume is published author. Lorraine Cannistra wrote a personal story that will be included in a new ‘Chicken Soup for the Soul’ book, due out this month. Cannistra, a client at the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center, was surprised when she was notified her submission had made the final cut. “I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “I didn’t tell ve

Karin Denes-Collar is employed by one agency, but works at a different agency. And everyone involved agrees that’s a good thing. Denes-Collar is a behavioral health consultant on staff at the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center. But she spends her days working at Heartland Community Health Center, which provides affordable health care to the community. The two agencies have a partnership to provide integrated services. “I always joke about having dual citizenship,” Denes

There has actually been a decrease in the number of children using services at the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center. But that’s not necessarily a good thing. “We’re seeing about a 20 percent decrease in the number of kids coming in for services,” said Janice Storey, director of Child and Family Services at Bert Nash. “But the acuity is much higher. They are in a much higher level of crisis when they get here. Sometimes our first point of contact with kids is a screeni

Acronyms are big at Bert Nash. There’s CFS, CSS, IDDT, IOP, SEED and WRAP, to name a few. But there’s none bigger than DBT, which stands for Dialectical Behavior Therapy. Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center CEO David Johnson has another name for it. “I call it a miracle program,” Johnson said. DBT combines the best of different cognitive behavioral models, which are integrated into a comprehensive treatment program. Developed by University of Washington psychologist Mar

Thirty-five years ago, there was a changing of the guard at the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center. Janette Snyder resigned as the Bert Nash Center’s director when her husband, a history professor, took a position at Louisiana State University. Snyder was the first woman to serve in the director’s role at Bert Nash. Another woman – Sandra Shaw, who took over on an interim basis – succeeded Snyder in 1978. A year later, Shaw became the permanent director, a position she

Bert Nash offers an array of mental health services for adults. The programs focus on a variety of issues, from depression and anxiety to post-traumatic stress disorder to severe and persistent mental illness. But they all have the same goal. “We want to try and help people move forward in their lives and their recovery,” said Eunice Ruttinger, Adult Services Director. Each year, about 4,000 Douglas County adults use the services offered at Bert Nash to do exactly that. “As f

Today, the Bert Nash Center turns 63 years old. We honor the legacy of the man whose vision and pioneering work led to the founding of the Bert Nash Center in 1950. We also thank the community for its generosity and continued support. We recognize the amazing Bert Nash staff for their tireless dedication and service, and, most of all, we acknowledge the courage and inspiration of our clients, for whom the Center exists and is proud to serve. Bert Nash was a protégé of Karl Me

Elizabeth Stephens is not a typical beauty pageant contestant. And that’s just the way she likes it. Stephens decided to enter the Mrs. Kansas pageant only because she saw it as a chance to talk about her issues, neither of which, by the way, happens to be the cliché world peace. Stephens’ issues hit much closer to home. They are poverty and homelessness. Two issues Stephens knows all about. “I grew up poor,” said Stephens, who went to school in Lawrence. Having no money grow