NEWS & NOTES

In her role as a peer support specialist at the Bert Nash Center, when Annie Ross is working with a client who is struggling or going through a crisis, she can relate. Because she’s been there herself. Ross, who has bipolar disorder, has struggled with mental illness since she was a teen. “I went through years of ups and downs with medications, depression and my life got to the point I felt so out of control I tried to escape,” Ross said. But she couldn’t escape her own mind.

It was December 2015. She planned to drive her car off the road on her way to work in Topeka in an apparent accident. She would wait until after the holidays so she could spend the time with her husband, Mike, and son, Kiernan, who was 7 at the time. But on Dec. 21, the day before her birthday, Julia, who was a practicing attorney at the time, attended a baby shower for a coworker. She was an emotional wreck. Her heart was breaking because she didn’t want to leave Mike and Ki

In the summer of 2016, Vincent Weston was struggling with psychotic symptoms and self-harm and knew he needed help, but didn’t know where to turn. He finally decided to talk to his parents. “They sent me to every doctor they could find, basically,” Vincent said. “Finally, someone I saw recommended the DBT (dialectical behavior therapy) program at Bert Nash, so I went there.” That was a turning point. Vincent did both individual and group therapy at Bert Nash. He loved his the

Henry and Tasha Wertin went from one day having no children to the next day being the father and mother of a 4-year-old. And as much as they wanted to be parents, it wasn’t an easy adjustment. “It was hard to become an instant family,” Tasha said. That was in 2005. The 4-year-old is now 16. Since then, the Wertins have adopted six more children. “We always wanted a big family,” Tasha said. As much as Henry and Tasha love their children, each one came into the family with emot

Rachel Monger met David Johnson, former Bert Nash CEO, several years ago at an advocacy fellowship program they both participated in through the Sunflower Foundation. She went up to him afterward and told him that Bert Nash was there for her when she needed it, and if there was anything she could do for the Center, to let her know. “Never one to waste an opportunity, not long after that he asked if I would be on the Endowment Board,” Monger said. Monger has served on the Bert