Mental health successes illustrate healing power of treatment

May is Mental Health Month, and as the month winds down, Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center shares a few success stories of client recovery.

Jackie Lira and TJ Reyes

Jackie Lira knew something wasn’t right. She just didn’t know what it was. Or why. “I essentially wanted to jump out of my own skin,” she said. “And I couldn’t fix it."

A couple of months earlier, Jackie and TJ Reyes’ son, Deacon, had been born premature. He arrived 10 weeks early and weighed only 2 pounds. Deacon spent the next two months in the neonatal intensive care unit at Kansas Medical Center. Even after Deacon came home and joined his two older brothers, he still had medical issues.

“Once we got Deacon home, that’s when things started,” Jackie said. “I told TJ, I can’t do this. I thought I was going crazy.”

Not sure what to do, Jackie went to the emergency room. A social worker at the hospital connected her with Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center.

“She was like, go here, these people will help you,” Jackie said.

The same day she went to Bert Nash, she was referred to Heartland Community Mental Health Center. That’s where she connected with Karin Denes Collar, a Bert Nash behavioral health consultant, who is in her third year of working with clients and providers at Heartland. The two agencies have a partnership to provide integrated care.

“I was so glad we were able to be there at the right time for Jackie,” Denes Collar said. “Jackie had a lot of skills already, but she had a very stressful few months, and they finally caught up with her. This model of practice is so rewarding because we can really get people comprehensive, integrated services quickly.”

For Jackie, it was as if a weight had been lifted. “It was like instant relief immediately when they met,” TJ said. "Jackie felt like somebody understood what she was going through and why she was feeling depressed and anxious."

“I thought, someone knows I’m not crazy,” Jackie said. “Karin could diagnose things and tell me I wasn’t alone and I wasn’t losing my mind and there was a reason I was feeling this way. I also started seeing a doctor at Heartland, which was great, because Karin and the doctor could talk and we were all on the same page.”

TJ and Jackie also met with Karin as a couple.

“He had struggles as well, because he had to do a lot things alone when I was sick and in bed,” Jackie said.

The couple learned new skills to help them communicate better and support each other. And Deacon, though he still has weight issues, is doing well.

“This has brought us together, even closer than I ever thought we could be,” TJ said. “It was a godsend for Karin to come into our lives.”

Rita Henderson

Being a teenager isn’t easy. For Rita Henderson, it was traumatic. “I was going through a lot of problems at home,” she said.

Henderson’s safe place became school. One reason she felt safe at school was because of the time she spent with Tiffany Fike, the WRAP (Working to Recognize Alternative Possibilities) worker at West Middle School when Henderson was a student. WRAP is a Bert Nash program that places a master’s-level clinician in the school.

“Tiffany was there to check up on me, to talk about the hard times, or not even talk at all, if I just wanted to sit in her office and listen to music,” Henderson said. “She just made me feel really comfortable. I felt very protected. I could go to her more than I could anyone else.”

While a student at West, Hendersonalso became friendswith Bev Lockwood, who worked in the cafeteria. “I call her Nanny, and her daughter is like a mother to me,” Henderson said. “They are like family.”

Henderson’s own family situation was unsettled. Her father died when she was young,and her motherhad her own struggles and didn’t provide a safe environment. Henderson moved in with Lockwood’s family for a time. 

“She was just this adorable, blue-eyed girl who stole my heart right away,” Lockwood said. “I thought, this girl needs me, and I need her, too.”

Besides suffering from an unhealthy home life, schoolwork was difficult for Henderson because of a learning disability, and she also suffers from Tourette syndrome, which causes people to make repeated movements or tics they can’t control.

“I’ve had a lot of obstacles,” Henderson said.

When Henderson moved on to Free State High School, she worked with the Bert Nash WRAP workers — Kim Hubbell and April Ramos. Henderson has remained close with her former WRAP workers.

“I love that girl,” Ramos said. “She is such a sweetheart. It helps us to know we did make a difference.”

After high school, Henderson considered becoming a teacher, but decided to go to culinary school at Flint Hills Technical College in Emporia. She talks about following in her Nanny’s footsteps.

“I’ve actually thought about going back to West and being a lunch lady, at least for a year,” Henderson said. For Henderson, it would be a way to say thank you to those who helped her when she needed it the most.

“Along with the love of my WRAP workers and my Nanny and her family, my grandparents Judy and Bill Pickering also did a lot. They would take me to my therapy appointments at Bert Nash. They also taught me how to love."

"Everyone was part of team Rita. No one let me feel abandoned,” Henderson said. “I’ve had a lot of people support me. I didn’t do it alone. They saved my life.”

Charlie Ross

Charlie Ross was 33, marriedand his wife was expectinga baby.

Then his world turned upside down. But he didn’t know why.

“I didn’t know anything about depression, but I kept getting more and more depressed,” he said. “I didn’t know what was happening to me."

Two weeks before his daughter was born, the pressure became too much.

“I felt like I was goingto explode or run througha window,” Ross said. “In the end, I just didn’t  know what to do. So I ran. I left.” 

Eventually, he ended up at Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center. But it was a process of change. In 2005, he started seeing George Wanke, a Bert Nash therapist.

“He was the first to recognize I was psychotic,” Ross said. “My recovery basically started from that point.” Wanke could tell Ross was a smart guy, but he needed help understanding why he was feeling this way.

“People come to therapy either because they don’t like the way they feel, or they don’t like how they think, or they don’t like how they behave,” Wanke said. “I wasn’t going to have to help Charlie think. His process was how do I connect up how I feel with what I do. I was just honored to be there with a person who wanted to change his life and invited me to be there to help him.”

His recovery has been a lengthy process, but Ross feels good about his life and the progress he has made.

“Bert Nash got me going in the right direction, and I could work with this fantastic therapist,” he said. “I did all the work, of course. That’s what George would tell you. But I couldn’t have done it without him. So, thank you, Bert Nash.”

Chloe O’Dell

When Chloe O’Dell was at her lowest point, her family went looking for help. They didn’t have to look far.

“Help was here all the time,” said Amy Booth, Chloe’s mom.

That help was available from the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center. Chloe, who was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder as a preschooler, started going to Bert Nash during her early middle-school years. She had problems with cutting and self-harm and had an eating disorder. Being a teenager wasn’t easy.

“I found a group of people I really wanted to be friends with,” Chloe said. “But they ended up not being the type of people I should have been friends with.”

As a parent, Chloe’s mom was concerned and confused. "I felt like I should have the answers, and I didn’t,” Amy said. “It was hard for me to understand why my child would have these issues."

 Chloe’s problems took on a new urgency when her mom discovered she had a plan to possibly kill herself.

“We realized we had a problem. We needed help, and we needed help quickly,” said Chloe’s grandfather, Hank Booth. “I made a couple of phone calls and we had help that next day.”

Chloe went through at program at Bert Nash called Adolescent Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), taught by therapist Juliet Nelson. Through the program, Chloe learned life skills to help her manage her emotions.

“It became ingrained,” Chloe said of DBT. “I will take those skills with me to college.”

Chloe, a senior at Eudora High School, will attend Vanderbilt University in Nashville in the fall. Chloe is a singer and taught herself to play guitar; she hopes to pursue her music after high school.

Kathleen Boyd, a Bert Nash child and family therapist in Eudora, worked with Chloe and her family.

“I was struck by her remarkable range of artistic talent, intelligence and energy she possessed,” Boyd said. “Chloe seemed to excel at whatever she put her mind to — yet struggled with other areas of living that put her being successful at risk. Chloe’s family was supportive and open to doing whatever it would take. Being able to learn concrete skills to manage difficult emotions and life changes through DBT seemed to be a perfect fit for Chloe, and learning these skills as a family through the Adolescent DBT program was ideal. I’m beyond thrilled to see their hard work has paid off and Chloe with such a bright future.”

Through her struggles, Chloe learned there is no shame in asking for help.

“I know now that that’s not something that should be frowned upon,” she said. “Asking for help is a symbol of strength.”

And she found help at Bert Nash.

“I don’t know if we realize what a resource we have and how blessed we are to have Bert Nash in this community and how many people it has helped,” Hank Booth said. “Bert Nash saved my granddaughter’s life.”