Gift WRAP – Celebrating 20 years of in-school program

Since the program was initiated 20 years ago, WRAP (Working to Recognize Alternative Possibilities) has impacted hundreds if not thousands of Lawrence students and their families. But due to confidentiality reasons, some of the program’s greatest successes can be difficult to measure, or even discussed publicly.

One thing is certain, WRAP saves lives.

“It absolutely does, all the time,” said Susan Chase, the team leader of the WRAP program.

WRAP is a groundbreaking Bert Nash Center program where — working in partnership with Lawrence Public Schools — a master’s-level clinician is assigned to a school to help with the behavioral, emotional, familial, and psychological problems students can have.

“The WRAP specialists work with our mental health professionals in our buildings,” said Jose Cornejo, mental health facilitator for Lawrence Public Schools. “It is a benefit to have the WRAP specialists in our buildings to address some of the specific needs of our students and help them get connected with additional resources, if needed, outside of the school system. Having those additional resources in our buildings has been a benefit, not only for our own mental health professionals but for our students and families.”

Team leader Chase said WRAP specialists serve as a bridge between the two different systems — the mental health center and the school district.

“It requires a great deal of flexibility, adaptation and initiative,” Chase said. “WRAP clinicians have a unique skill set that allows them to provide therapeutic interventions in a fast-paced, ever-changing environment.”

WRAP was the brainchild of Charlie Kuszmaul, who developed and oversaw the Bert Nash program until his retirement in November 2016. Twenty years ago, WRAP was a novel idea. In many ways it still is.

“There was really no model for doing this. That wasn’t something that mental health centers were doing at the time,” Kuszmaul said.

Recognizing there can be barriers for students to go to the mental health center, the idea behind WRAP was to take services to where students are — in the schools. Having the WRAP specialists on site helps to avoid the stigma that can be associated with mental health issues.

“Kids didn’t want to go to the mental health center, because that’s where the ‘crazy’ people go,” Kuszmaul said.

So, in consultation and cooperation with school district officials at the time, the idea for WRAP was born. Currently, there is a WRAP specialist in both Lawrence high schools, all four middle schools, six of the elementary schools, Bishop Seabury Academy and Eudora Elementary School.

“We feel fortunate to have this 20-year partnership with the Lawrence School District, and we’re excited to continue that collaboration into the future,” said Janice Storey, Bert Nash Child and Family Services director. “We couldn’t do this without the schools and the support of the city and the county. We are grateful to have a community that puts a premium on providing access to mental health services, especially for our children and in our schools.”

“It has been a good partnership,” Cornejo said of the WRAP program and the 20-year working relationship between Lawrence Public Schools and the Bert Nash Center. “A partnership can really flourish when you have two systems working together in the interest of the student.”

One of those students who benefited from the WRAP program is Lawrence City Commissioner Matthew Herbert. When he was a student at Southwest Junior High School, he used to meet with the WRAP specialist. Herbert, who graduated from Free State High School in 2001, now teaches ninth-grade civics and 12th-grade government classes at Lawrence High.

“As a young kid growing up in Lawrence, I faced many of the same challenges some of my students face today. These elements, which manifest themselves without necessarily providing a physical warning sign for others to see, can grab hold of a young person and derail them so quickly,” Herbert said. “I will never fully know the degree to which my time as a young man spent talking with WRAP counselor Aimee Ziegler changed my life, but it did.”

In his position on the City Commission, Herbert has been a strong supporter of WRAP and an outspoken advocate for helping to fund the program that helped him when he was a struggling teenager. WRAP also receives support and funding from the Douglas County Commission.

“In providing the mental health services within our school buildings that WRAP can provide, we are able to better enable our students to find success both in the classroom and beyond, as they become productive contributors to our community,” Herbert said. “We are so very fortunate in this community to have a resources like Bert Nash and a program like WRAP to serve the needs of our students.”

As the WRAP program has evolved over the past 20 years, it has become an example for other school districts and other communities across the state.

“The Lawrence School District and the Bert Nash Center have been trendsetters across the state. We have a program in place that has been operating for 20 years that other communities and districts have looked at in terms of a model of how two systems can work together to address the needs of students,” Cornejo said. “The 20th anniversary is something that our school district and our community should be proud of.”

While funding for the WRAP program and the number of schools where a WRAP specialist is assigned has oscillated over the years, one thing hasn’t changed. The program, literally, saves lives.

“We’ve had any number of people who have said those very words, WRAP saves lives,” Kuszmaul said. “You saved my child’s life, literally. You can’t put a price tag on that.”