News & Notes

Religious diversity was the topic of a diversity training program June 21 at Bert Nash. Moussa Elbayoumy, director of the Islamic Center of Lawrence; Father John Schmeidler of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church; Kent Winters-Hazelton, pastor of First Presbyterian Church; and Rabbi Moti Rieber of the Lawrence Jewish Community Congregation, participated in the panel discussion. Mathew Faulk, a member of the diversity committee, emceed the program for Bert Nash staff.

About 50 people from various local organizations attended today’s suicide prevention program, hosted by Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center, Headquarters Counseling Center and Kansas Youth Suicide Prevention. The event — Everyone Plays a Role in Suicide Prevention: Turning Strategy into Action — was part of a national discussion about suicide prevention. The local program included a panel discussion with Marcia Epstein, Headquarters Counseling Center director; Chris Maxw

Rhonda Stubbs, Bert Nash child and family services case manager specialist, accepted a $2,000 check today from Noon Rotary President Scott Morgan. The gift will go toward the Bert Nash summer youth program. In turn, Stubbs presented the Rotary president with a handmade thank-you note from the staff and youth in the summer. program. Rotarian Dave Adams announced the award.

When Bill Beedles took a Mental Health First Aid class in the fall of 2011, it changed his life. It could also change the life of someone he knows. “The biggest change is I now have enough knowledge so that I have the courage to intervene if the situation is serious enough that I need to be proactive,” said Beedles, a University of Kansas business professor. “Where I just wasn’t inclined to do so in the past.” Mental Health First Aid is a 12-hour certification course that hel

As a member of the Emerging Leaders Academy, a professional development program offered through the University of Kansas Public Management Center, Amy Warren took a test designed to identify her strengths and show her how to use them. The test revealed something about herself she already knew. “The results showed I couldn’t work someplace unless I really believed in what I was doing,” Warren said. “So it made sense why I work here.” Warren is the outpatient team leader at the

Eudora’s school superintendent lauded funding that will extend Bert Nash’s WRAP (Working to Recognize Alternative Possibilities) program for another year in all three of the community’s schools. The WRAP workers in Eudora are Carla DeHetre (middle school), Amy Brown (high school) and Elizabeth Day (elementary school). WRAP workers are master’s-level mental health clinicians who work collaboratively with school counselors, teachers and administrators. “WRAP is a critical compo

Thursday, June 27, 2013, at the Community Health Facility, 200 Maine, Lawrence, Kansas Everyone Plays a Role in Suicide Prevention: Turning Strategy into Action The Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center, Headquarters Counseling Center, and Kansas Youth Suicide Prevention invite you to join in this important local, state, and national discussion. Awareness + Tools = Change You will leave with information about what YOU can do, because “Everyone Plays A Role In Suicide Preve

David Johnson doesn’t have to look far for inspiration. In fact, he has to look no farther than his own office. There, hanging on the wall above his desk is a painting of one of the most inspirational people Johnson, CEO of the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center, has ever known. The painting is of his father. Johnson’s father died in 2008, just shy of his 88th birthday. Oscar Johnson, who was a Lutheran pastor, overcame considerable physical limitations to leave a legac

It took awhile to see the results, but the fruit of Jake Keary’s labor is starting to show. And later this spring, the evidence should be in full bloom. To earn his Eagle Scout community service merit badge, Jake took on a landscaping project for the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center. Jake’s mom, Deb, is a Bert Nash clinician. Deb is an on-site therapist at Liberty Memorial Central Middle School as part of the Bert Nash WRAP (Working to Recognize Alternative Possibilit

Ron Fowler may not be comfortable speaking in front of a group. He prefers to express his thoughts and feelings in a different way. Writing poetry. Fowler was asked by Heidi Pritchard, a community support services case manager at Bert Nash, to share his experiences. He agreed, with one condition. “I told her I would do it, but I told her I don’t speak very well, so maybe I would write a poem. I put things down better in poetry,” Fowler said. “She said that would be great.” Pr

May is Bike Month, but every month is bike month for Bert Nash psychiatrist Joe Douglas. He rides his bicycle to work year-round, weather permitting, which is about a five-mile roundtrip.

Lawrence Mayor Michael Dever read a proclamation at Tuesday’s city commission meeting in observance of Mental Health Month, proclaiming “a commitment to community-based systems of mental health care for all residents” and “increasing awareness and understanding of mental illness and the need for appropriate and accessible services for all people with mental illness.”