“I wouldn’t be here if not for Bert Nash”

Jim Ruane had spent most of his life living in Wichita. When he moved to Lawrence a few years ago, everything changed. For the better.

He credits his relocation to Lawrence and coming to the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center for services with putting him on a different path.

“It was just kind of meant to be,” he said. “It absolutely saved my life.”

Jim had been a successful lawyer in Wichita. In part, he said, because he’s Irish and he’s stubborn. But he went through a divorce and his life was falling apart.

“I was living an invalidated life with all sorts of family dynamics,” he said. His problems spilled over into his law practice.

“My inability to regulate my emotions in the courtroom became a problem,” he said. “It just became clear that the wheels were falling off and that the rigors of practice were too hard. I got suspended.”

Jim was severely depressed with suicidal tendencies.

“I was literally scared all the time,” he said. “The only way I could slow down the panic was to get somewhere where I felt physically safe and then I could work on getting mentally safe.”

About 20 years ago, Jim was diagnosed as having bipolar disorder. He also was diagnosed as having dyslexia and attention deficit disorder.

“I’ve had a very heavily prescribed last 20 plus years,” he said. “I was misdiagnosed for years and taking a protocol of medications that made things worse.”

Now, Jim works in tandem with his therapist and medical services provider at the Bert Nash Center. “They work really closely together,” Jim said. “It makes for a very impressive team.”

He said of his therapist, Amy Hammer, “She was very quick to get me. She is never judgmental about anything. She’s just a really good example to follow. You can see how much she works the same set of skills herself.”

Amy is a member of the Bert Nash Center’s DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy) team.

DBT is a cognitive behavioral therapy that teaches people how to live in the moment, develop healthy ways to cope with stress, regulate their emotions, and improve their relationships with others.

“One of the big DBT credos is don’t judge yourself,” Jim said. “Everybody is doing the best they can, including you.”

Jim said he still has “freak-outs, but I know what they are, and I know what to do about them.”

“DBT is my new emotional health system,” he said. “It arms you with tools where you just ramp yourself down.”

Now when Jim knows people who are having the same struggles he went through; he tells them they should go to the Bert Nash Center.

“I tell people I wouldn’t be here if not for Bert Nash,” he said.