"Bert Nash gave me my life back”

When the client’s sister died, she wanted to join her. She didn’t want to live anymore.

“Bert Nash pulled me out of it,” the client said. “I wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for Bert Nash.” The client started coming to the Bert Nash

Community Mental Health Center when she moved to Lawrence.

“My kids moved to Lawrence, so I came here,” she said.

The client was in her 40s when she started attending classes at the University of Kansas. She is 63 now.

“I couldn’t handle it,” she said of that period in her life. “That’s when I had my major breakdown. I was in really bad shape. I was self-medicating; I was partying a lot. My kids were worried about me.”

The client has experienced a lot of trauma in her life.

“I went through just about every kind of abuse I could when I was younger,” she said. “I was in and out of getting help. There’s a span there where I don’t remember hardly anything in my life before Bert Nash. I was in such bad shape.”

Working with Bert Nash Center case manager Mindy Downs and now Christine Lowe, the client has come a long way from where she was when she started coming to the Bert Nash Center.

“Bert Nash has saved my life and brought me back to the real world,” she said. I feel safe, good, and happy. The big thing is happy.”

Her family has seen the difference the Bert Nash Center has made in the client’s life.

“My family just worships Bert Nash, because they see the change in me and they see me becoming a person again,” she said. “I was numb for so many years. I had forgotten how to be happy. I’ve learned to love myself again.”

The client sees her life and her mental health as a work in progress.

“I’m slowly building in so many ways, and it feels so good,” she said. “I know I have a long way to go, but I have a lot of support. I still get anxiety, but it’s nothing like it used to be.”

The client is grateful for the help she has received and for the life she has now.

“It’s like Bert Nash gave me my life back,” she said. “I’m proud of getting help; I’m not ashamed of it. It’s made me who I am. And I like me.”