NEWS & NOTES

For Paul Williams, the ballot issue to finance the jail remodeling as well as numerous mental health initiatives, including a crisis center, has taken him out of his comfort zone. Admittedly, Williams has an aversion to conflict. He’s also not been one to engage in political debate. Until now. “I’ve never been a political kind of guy,” Williams said. “I try to avoid it like the plague. But this issue forced me in.” This issue hits close to home for Williams. For multiple reas

Alice Ann Johnston and her young family were fairly new to Lawrence when a friend asked her if she would be interested in serving on the board at the Bert Nash Center. “We had moved here in 1983,” Johnston said. “I hadn’t even heard of Bert Nash before.” But she said yes to the invitation to join the board anyway. “I knew that it was something important and that it would be something that I would enjoy being involved in,” Johnston said. She joined the Bert Nash Governing Boar

There is no actual running involved, but the Illness Management Recovery (IMR) group at Bert Nash is a lot like training for a long-distance race. “We use the example of running a marathon,” said co-leader Kendra Powers. “We would be able to run a marathon if we trained for it, but we couldn’t just get up today and go run a marathon. You’d have to start training. Or it could be something as simple as buying running shoes. Or where are you going to run? So, breaking it down in

Since graduating with a psychology degree from the University of Kansas in 1995, Nicole Rials has had a strong interest in crisis-related programs. She also loves collaboration between community partners. Her new position – director of the Urgent Care Program at the Bert Nash Center – affords her the chance to be involved with both. “I’ve always been very interested in urgent care, crisis-type work, whether it’s mental health, physical health, or corrections,” Rials said. “I’

During the interview process for this position, I visited with numerous people from the community. One of the things that stood out to me the most was how this community supported mental health services. Since becoming CEO of the Bert Nash Center nine months ago, I have been even more impressed with the community’s commitment to providing comprehensive behavioral health services for its residents. Lawrence and Douglas County have a long history of supporting mental health ser