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Every child deserves to feel safe, supported, and understood. For children in the child welfare system, mental health support is especially important. Many young people carry the effects of trauma, loss, disrupted relationships, uncertainty, and stress, which shape how they learn, communicate, build trust, and connect with others.

July is BIPOC Mental Health Awareness Month. This month recognizes the unique mental health needs, strengths, and experiences of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. For children and families, this means creating space to talk honestly about mental health, identity, race, inequity, and social justice while ensuring care is accessible, trusted, and responsive to each child’s lived experience.

In this month’s Step Up for Kansas Kids newsletter, we spotlight Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center and the role early intervention, community-based services, and coordinated care play in supporting children’s mental health. We also share ways to learn, connect, and advocate, along with BIPOC Mental Health Month resources that help trusted adults support more open conversations with young people.

Check out the latest news & updates from Step Up:

Supporting Children’s Mental Health Through Connection, Early Intervention, and Community

Children involved in foster care or other child welfare services often carry stories of resilience. They may also carry the impact of trauma, disrupted relationships, uncertainty, and stress. Supporting their mental and behavioral health is not only about responding to crises. It is about creating opportunities for healing, strengthening families, and building systems of care that help children thrive.

Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center serves as Douglas County’s designated community mental health center and Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic. The organization provides a range of services for children, adolescents, and families, including outpatient therapy, psychiatric services, crisis support, case management, and community-based programs designed to meet families where they are.

This month, Bert Nash shares why early intervention matters, how coordinated support helps children and families navigate complex needs, and how community members, caregivers, schools, providers, and CASA volunteers can all help Kansas children heal, grow, and thrive.

This Month's Easy Wins


BIPOC Mental Health Awareness Month is an opportunity to support honest conversations, reduce stigma, and help more children and families find care before stress becomes a crisis.

Here are ways to take action this month:

• Explore Bert Nash Center's Services: Visit Bert Nash's Children & Young Adult Services, Community-Based Services, and Crisis Services pages, along with the Judge Jean Shepherd Youth Recovery Center project, to understand the full range of therapy, psychiatric care, case management, and crisis support available to children and families in Douglas County.
  
• Start Supportive Conversations With Young People: Use Mental Health America’s “Checking in with young people” conversation starters to help trusted adults create space for children and teens to talk about how they are really doing.

Additional Information on BIPOC Mental Health

• BIPOC Mental Health Toolkit (Mental Health America) | A full toolkit designed for trusted people in trusted spaces throughout communities of color. The toolkit includes printables, communications materials, and resources to encourage honest mental health conversations and help people support themselves and one another.
  
• Starting culturally affirming therapy: A guide for BIPOC individuals (Mental Health America) | A resource focused on finding mental health care that recognizes the importance of culture, identity, lived experience, and trust in the therapeutic relationship.
  
• BIPOC Mental Health Resource Center (Mental Health America) | An online resource center with information and tools designed to reflect the unique experiences of Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities and support BIPOC individuals on their mental health journeys.