Celebrating the Strength We Have Together
When someone walks through the doors of the Bert Nash Center, my hope is they feel the strength within. The concept of “strength” can have a deeply personal meaning, but at its core, it embodies a sense of self-awareness and acceptance, as well as being an integral part of something greater.
Over the last 35 years in this field, I have had to be intentional in this work, bringing myself back to it when it was necessary to affect an insight or discovery, that hopefully led to a change, an improvement, a different outcome.
As I reflect on that process throughout my life, I realize that a strength underneath this lifelong process has been tenacity, quiet mostly, but at times fierce and intense. It is the strength of tenacity that carries me through the challenges and opportunities faced to bring about change and improvement in myself and in how we deliver behavioral health and housing services to our neighbors.
I am honored to be part of an organization, a community, that has been tenacious in its own efforts to respond to the needs, restore lives, and build a healthier community for all Douglas County citizens and to help each of them to identify and develop their inner strength.
I want to celebrate some extraordinary achievements of the Center in the past year — all because of the strength we have together.
In October, we proudly became the first fully certified Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic, or what we fondly refer to as CCBHC, in Kansas and the first 501c3 nationwide to achieve this without dedicated grant or direct state/municipal funding.
We stepped up to the challenge to operate the new Treatment & Recovery Center of Douglas County. Our partnership with Douglas County and the other behavioral health partners has created a state-of-the-art crisis center in Kansas. Since last April, we served more than 1,000 community members in 2023 and I assure you, lives have been saved.
Our commitment to provide permanent housing with supportive services led us to acquire land at the corner Sixth Street and Rockledge, which will be the home of 22–26 apartment units. We know that 80 percent of people who experience houseless can stabilize more quickly with adequate support and opportunities.
And finally, our commitment to children, teens, and their families. We were thrilled to announce in November our next endeavor – the Youth Recovery Center at 3500 Clinton Place. The Youth Recovery Center will be a priority in the coming months.
I urge you to stand with us today and into the future, empowering those in search of their inner strength, hope, and voice.
Envision the transformative power that WILL emerge when we unite the strength within this community to drive meaningful change for our friends, neighbors, coworkers, and families.
Together, we can make it happen.
PATRICK SCHMITZ | President & CEO