News & Notes

With their long hair and long beards, they look like rock stars. But they don’t act like it. No limos or fivestar hotels for this band. But almost any day of the week you can find them at the Lawrence Community Shelter, or along the banks of the Kansas River, or in the downtown district. Or wherever the homeless are. Since 2006, a team of trained case managers from Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center, through a partnership with the city of Lawrence and a federal grant, h

My days were dark for 30 plus years. With a degree in secondary education, I was a teacher until I was diagnosed with anorexia. I was dying — even though I didn’t know it — and I didn’t care. My doctor told me I wasn’t going to die on his watch. This opened my eyes. I really did want to live. My life was out of control. I was divorced, out of a job, out of a career. I was a goldfish in a turbulent ocean. I tried to go to school, hold a job. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t do any

Starting in 1982, I had been in and out of hospitals. When I first was diagnosed with mental illness, I was a graduate student at the University of Kansas. During the first phase of my illness, I was teaching at KU and had won a Fulbright to go to Mexico to collect data for my degree. I had earned two master’s degrees and was working on my dissertation when my illness made it impossible for me to continue in the program. I was lost and went to private practitioners. My illnes

Over the past 25 years, Patricia Roach Smith has had the good fortune to change careers multiple times. Yet, she never had to move. She never had to change organizations. And she never thought she would spend her entire career at the same place. “Oh, my goodness, who stays in a job for 25 years?” said Roach Smith, chief operating officer at Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center. “People don’t do that anymore do they?” Roach Smith did. And she wouldn’t have had it any other

Wellness? it’s essential to living a full and productive life. We may have different ideas about what wellness means, but it involves a set of skills and strategies that prevent the onset or shorten the duration of illness and promote recovery and well-being. It’s about keeping healthy as well as getting healthy. “Pathways to Wellness” is this year’s theme of “May is Mental Health Month” which calls attention to strategies and approaches that help all Americans achieve wellne

Stories of dedication. Stories of service. Stories of inspiration. Most importantly, stories of lives changed. Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center’s annual celebration recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the center and to mental health in Douglas County. About 150 people attended the event. This was the 27th year for the celebration, which honors the memory of the man whose work lives on through the center that bears his name. “That’s why we

When Kathleen Boyd sees a child having trouble in school, she sees more than a student struggling with grades. She sees beyond the classroom. She sees a boy or girl who is part of a school, a family and a larger community who needs support. “I look at each child in terms of his or her world,” said Boyd, who is a Bert Nash child and family therapist in Eudora. “Life happens to all of us and can often be overwhelming. Kids struggle as well as adults when there is loss, a family

On Thursday, Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins (R-Kan.) and Congressman Ron Barber (D-Ariz.) co-hosted a congressional staff briefing sponsored by the National Council Behavioral Healthcare on an innovative training program called Mental Health First Aid and H.R. 274, the Mental Health First Aid Act. Barber previously served as district director for former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. He was critically wounded in the Tucson, Ariz., attack that nearly claimed the life of Gifford

David Johnson, Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center CEO, was one of the speakers on a panel today in Washington, D.C., that discussed the value of Mental Health First Aid. Lynn Jenkins, Republican congresswoman from Kansas, and Ron Barber, Democratic congressman from Arizona, cohosted the briefing for congressional staffers. Jenkins was the first Republican to add her name as a cosponsor to H.R. 274, the Mental Health First Act, which was introduced Jan. 15 by Rep. Barber

Officially, it is called the Recognition and Retention Committee. Based on the group’s activities, it could be called the fun committee. “We’re the party planners,” said Lydia Shontz, administrative assistant at Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center, whose duties include chairing the center’s R&R Committee. R&R used to stand for retention and recruitment. The committee’s name was changed to put more emphasis on recognizing and rewarding employees. It is important that empl

Paramedicine was a relatively new field in 1975. At the time, Paul Taylor was completing his studies at St. John’s College in Winfield and trying to figure out what to do with his life. “I was going to college and casting around for some kind of career,” Taylor said. “It’s nerve-racking when you are almost through school and you don’t know what you’re going to do.” Then someone suggested he become a paramedic. Taylor didn’t know what the person was talking about. Literally. “

Linda Davis had stepped out of a meeting for Bert Nash staff to take a phone call, so she didn’t hear when her name was announced. When she returned, she was surprised when her fellow staff members stood and began clapping. Davis, a community support services team leader at Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center, was named the 2013 winner of the Sandra Shaw Spirit Award. “It was a total shock,” Davis said. “It’s just an honor to even be nominated for the Spirit Award, that