From the CEO

What I’ve learned in my first 100 days: I have an amazingly talented, well-educated, passionate team to work with here at Bert Nash. They told me before I got here that that is the kind of team we have, and it’s been proven to me repeatedly.

We’re here to serve people. The reason I do this work is because when I was in junior high my family struggled and we ended up getting the kind of services provided here at Bert Nash. The individual and family counseling we received made all the difference in my life and the life of my family. If it hadn’t been for that, I’m not sure where I would be today but I know for sure I wouldn’t be here. It could have been somewhere dire, because I was certainly on the wrong path in life at the time. So, I appreciate the work we do at Bert Nash. That’s why I’m passionate that we bring that same opportunity to other people. The interventions, the interactions our staff has with people are critical to the wellbeing of our community. So, thank you, Bert Nash staff, for the work you do.

In addition to the amazing team, we’re really very lucky to have a great board of directors. They really are remarkable people. And we have some great community partners we get to work with every day, like Lawrence Memorial Hospital, Heartland, DCCCA, Lawrence-Douglas County Housing Authority, Headquarters, Douglas County, the City of Lawrence and the Lawrence Public Schools. We are very lucky to have those partnerships. I am dedicated to ensuring those will continue to grow and strengthen over time as they are critical to our success as a community. We’re fortunate to have the kind of citizen support we have for mental health services in Douglas County and the willingness to have open, honest conversations regarding mental health.

We need to increase access to our services. I’ve said this to many groups. We need to look at how we deliver services, how do people come here for services, how we make them available, and where else do we need to go to deliver services. Obviously, we need to have access to our services in Eudora and Baldwin City, but where else can we make accessing the great things we do easier for those in need. We need to look at the gaps in services. We need to increase the awareness of what we do here. While the Bert Nash Center has a great reputation, we also have a reputation sometimes that people think we’re not accessible. We know there is some reality to that and we must work at improving that reality and perception of the Bert Nash Center as an agency.

We need to have a willingness to look at everything we do, how we do it and question it. Is this the best way to be doing this? Is this the right way to be doing this? Is there something else we could be doing to better meet the needs of our clients, to meet the needs of our staff and the needs of our community? I invite our staff, Board, community partners, the people we serve and the community at large to engage in the conversation on these issues so together we can improve the mental health care system here in Douglas County.

I’m truly confident that we have the team and community that is going to make this happen.