NEWS & NOTES

Douglas County Friends and Neighbors, Black Lives Matter. I entered the mental health profession in part because of pain I had experienced in my life and the help I received from a community-based mental health provider much like the Bert Nash Center. Watching the news is to see pain aired on live television. Some of us turn away, overwhelmed. Some of us become sympathetic, separating ourselves from the experience of others. Some of us simply feel at a loss…don’t know what to

June will be an anniversary for Debra Chapin. Next month she will celebrate her first year as a peer support specialist at the Bert Nash Center. “I knew this program existed,” Chapin said. “I thought what they did was really cool. I thought this is exactly where I want to be.” In January, that’s exactly what happened. Chapin was notified she had passed the certification to become a peer support specialist. In her role, she provides support and shares her personal story of rec

Social work wasn’t originally part of my plan. As an undergraduate, I studied biology and applied to medical school. After I didn’t get in and had graduated from KU, I chose to take a gap year to volunteer in AmeriCorps at a group home for juvenile boys in Kansas City. However, the children I worked with slowly melted my heart and I decided to start working at Bert Nash after my volunteer term ended in 2014. My first position was at Bridges as a psychosocial worker where I le

As a kid growing up in New York City, I saw firsthand the toll the lack of safety and security can have on a person’s mental health. Uncertainty about meeting basic needs makes it near impossible to think about the future, let alone accomplish goals. This uncertainty dominated my childhood, but also shaped my worldview. I knew from a very early age that my path lay in helping people. Watching my brother struggle with his mental health for years, and his subsequent decade of i

I pursued a career in mental health because I have always found great joy and value in helping others. As I got further into my graduate program, I felt myself being drawn more and more toward working with kids and adolescents. I just love their energy. Prior to working at Bert Nash, I worked in an inpatient psychiatric hospital for children and adolescents. After spending time in a very crisis-driven environment, I became even more passionate about mental health prevention a