With The Help Of Her Bert Nash Team, Jacquie Is Not Only Surviving, But Thriving

With everything she has been through, Jacquie has learned an important lesson.

To advocate for herself and those she loves.

“It’s been a long road,” she said. “But I’ve worked really hard and I’m in a really good place now.” – Jacquie

“I’m very good at advocating for myself and I always encourage other people to do the same,” she said. ““I don’t take no for an answer. I have a very strong will. When I decide to do something, I don’t stop until I get to the other side.”

She’s also not afraid to ask for help. When she moved from Minnesota to Lawrence in 2000, she looked up what mental health services were available.

“I sought out help,” she said. “I just looked up Bert Nash in the phonebook.”

Jacquie has been receiving services at the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center ever since. Other family members have also received services at the Bert Nash Center.

“I have a great team at Bert Nash,” Jacquie said.

One member of that team is her case manager, Diane. They started working together in 2010.

“Diane is great,” Jacquie said. “I love working with her.”

The feeling is mutual.

“One of the things about Jacquie is she has taught me so much about my job,” Diane said. “We’ve been a valuable resource to each other.”

Jacquie fell down a flight of stairs in 2006 and suffered a traumatic brain injury. It wasn’t diagnosed until two years later.

“I thought I was just depressed,” Jacquie said.

Through it all, Jacquie learned about the traumatic brain injury (TBI) waiver, which provides services to people who have TBI. She sees a specialized trauma specialist with another agency.

“I don’t think I knew about the TBI waiver until she told me about it,” Diane said.

From childhood abuse, to having her neck broken not once but twice, to suffering a traumatic brain injury, to being evicted from her home, Jacquie has been a survivor.

“It’s been a long road,” she said. “But I’ve worked really hard and I’m in a really good place now.”

With the help of her Bert Nash team and her own determination, she’s not only surviving. She’s thriving.

“I don’t want to just survive anymore,” Jacquie said. “I’m moving from surviving to thriving. I don’t want to stop moving forward.”