Bert Nash Pioneer Award winners champion mental health access

Recipients of this year’s Bert Nash Pioneer Award are both pioneers. Each in her own way.

Shirley Martin-Smith and Teresa Treanor were honored April 20th during the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center’s annual Pioneer Celebration, which recognizes community leaders for their support of mental health in Douglas County.

The Pioneer Award “is given to an individual whose efforts and achievements to secure accessible and comprehensive community mental health services for all Douglas County residents are exceptional and typify the progressive caring spirit, which led to the founding of the Bert Nash Community Mental Center,” said Sue Hack, a member of the Center’s Governing Board of Directors, in introduction of Martin-Smith. “I can think of no one who personifies that spirit more than Shirley.”

Martin-Smith is a past member of both the Bert Nash Governing Board of Directors and Endowment Board. She is also a former city commissioner, who was co-chair of a successful county sales tax initiative in the mid-1990s that paid for construction of the Community Health Facility, which is home to the Bert Nash Center, Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department and Visiting Nurses Association. The facility was built in 1999.

“That was a dream come true for Sandi,” Martin-Smith said of her friend, the former Bert Nash CEO Sandra Shaw, who died in 2010.

Martin-Smith first met Shaw in the mid-1980s at a Rotary Club meeting.

“I had just opened my own business, and about that same time, Bert Nash started an endowment fund,” said Martin-Smith, who has been in the staffing service industry since 1976 — she is the local franchisee of Adecco. “I told Sandi I don’t have any money to give for your endowment because I just opened my business and I’m not making any money yet. So we talked about how I could help make a contribution to Bert Nash. What we decided was I would help her hire her clerical employees, not clinical, at no charge. We did that together for many years.”

One of those people Martin-Smith led to Bert Nash is Beth Ankerholz, who has held different leadership positions at the Center and is currently the IT director.

“With pride, I go up to Beth every time I see her,” Martin-Smith said. “She is now in her 26th year at Bert Nash, and I placed her there as Sandi’s administrative assistant. She went on to do great things at Bert Nash.”

Martin-Smith said she was grateful to be in the select companyof past PioneerAward winners — a  number of whom were in the audience at the Pioneer Celebration. 

“This is truly an honor, as I have known the vast majority of those who have been named Pioneer Award winners,” Martin-Smith said. “It is humbling to be recognized alongside these great men and women who have embraced the work of the Bert Nash Center and removed the barriers to talk openly about mental health.”

One of those people who works to break down the barriers about mental health is Teresa Treanor.

“I thought Teresa was a perfect choice for the Pioneer Award,” Martin-Smith said of her fellow award winner. “When I heard her story, I knew why I did it, why I was involved with Bert Nash. She was proof positive that Bert Nash matters and it made all those years I spent helping Bert Nash worthwhile.”

Treanor has publicly shared her story about dealing with depression and the help she has received from services offered at the Bert Nash Center.

“Teresa has had an immeasurable impact through her commitment that people in Douglas County know about the life-saving work we do,” Bert Nash CEO David Johnson said when presenting Treanor with the Pioneer Award. “And not only has Teresa shared her story and allowed us to share her story in so many ways, she has also helped a number of people get services at Bert Nash who would otherwise have suffered needlessly.”

For her part, Treanor was humbled to receive the Pioneer Award.

“I am honored to share this award with Shirley,” Treanor said. “I am also thankful to Bert Nash for all the help I am receiving and the wonderful work they do for our community. I am convinced I would not be here if it wasn’t for the team I have there. It is easy for me to tell my story, because they saved my life, and with ongoing therapy they continue to do so.”

And Treanor continues to share her story so others who suffer from depression will know they are not alone and help is available.

“I am compelled to do this, and I want to do this,” she said. “When you go through something that you know other people are also going through, you don’t want them to suffer any longer. I never felt like a pioneer; I just felt like this is what I need to do. People should never be ashamed or afraid to get help, or to help someone who needs it, just get to Bert Nash. Where there is help there is hope.”