Douglas County Sheriff Jay Armbrister sits down with Dr. Kirsten Watkins, CEO of the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center, and Emily Farley, Chief Advancement Officer, to explore how a community of Lawrence’s size has built one of the most comprehensive behavioral health systems in Kansas. They outline the Bert Nash Center’s role as a safety-net provider for all ages and all levels of need, describe its network of facilities and explain the vision for the forthcoming Youth Recovery Center, which isa “urgent care for the mind” where youth can receive crisis stabilization and ongoing outpatient care under one roof. 

The conversation highlights how Douglas County residents have repeatedly “put their money where their mouth is,” from approving sales tax for crisis services to driving a 73% increase in private donations, ensuring that local youth and families don’t have to travel hours away for psychiatric care.

The episode also dives into the deep collaboration between the Bert Nash Center and the criminal justice system, including embedded clinicians in the Douglas County Jail, participation in specialty courts and the high-utilization Mobile Response Team that often responds to mental health crises instead of or alongside law enforcement. Armbrister recounts how local partners, including Bert Nash, devised an in-county solution to long state waits for competency evaluations and restoration, reducing decompensation in jail and freeing scarce state hospital beds. 

Throughout, Watkins and Farley emphasize that early intervention is lasting prevention, that the severity and complexity of mental health needs are rising and that Bert Nash’s core message to Douglas County remains simple and urgent: you are not alone, we are here for you, and if we’re not the right place, we’ll help you find the one that is.