Our Community, Our Mission
Our Community, Our Mission
Ep #308 – Rebuilding with Relationships: Astra Mental Health & Recovery
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This week we talk with leaders from Astra Mental Health and Recovery about the work they're doing and the strong partnership TRM has with them. Our guests explain why the merger between Valeo and Family Service & Guidance Center to form Astra is more than administrative. It reshapes access to care across the lifespan of individuals. The conversation breaks down what community support really looks like, from peer support and tenant care to traditional case management and benefits access. It also highlights the essential role of building connections with each person we encounter, as well as organizational partners.
The thread tying it all together is relationship. We dig into how stigma fades when language becomes person-centered, when we listen to the individual in front of us, and when leaders are willing to be honest about their own struggles, not just someone else’s. If you care about mental health services in Topeka, homelessness response, addiction recovery, and building a community that treats people like neighbors, you’ll come away with a clearer map of what’s working and what's still needed.
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Opening Prayer And Purpose
SPEAKER_06Father, we just thank you for another day, another day filled with hope, another day with challenges that we can use wisdom from you to tackle and to find solutions. Thank you for another day of friendships and partnerships. Lord, the the work you've called us to do is hard and challenging and sometimes exhausting. Yet because of people like on this podcast, it is still fun and joyful and most importantly purposeful as we walk alongside people that we can relate to and see the transformation that they need, Lord, and that you provide ways to have that happen. Thank you for our guests. Thank you for their organization. And I just pray that you would continue to be with them, Lord, as they merge and walk through a lot of change. And Lord, just please bless the efforts that they are trying to do. In your name we pray. Amen.
SPEAKER_05Hello, everybody. Thank you for joining us for our community, our mission, a podcast of the Topeka Rescue Mission on March the 24th, 2026. This is episode number 308. Woo. Yeah, woo.
SPEAKER_02I know. Yeah. Pretty soon we'll be at 400.
Cheesesteaks Raisins And A Laugh
SPEAKER_05No, no, I don't think we're that old to have that many. But anyway, I'm your host today, Barry Fieker. I'm here with uh Lamanda Cunningham, very incredible. And we have some awesome guests today. We're gonna have a lot of fun here. Um we've already been having fun uh with our guest um that uh we we know in variety of different ways. I'm gonna introduce him right now from Astra Mental Health and Recovery. Robert Harter, um, welcome here. You are the director of community support services. Yes. And so we're gonna be talking with you today, Amy Mullins, and uh let me make sure I get this new title right. It's Traditional Services Program Manager. Yes, it is Welcome, Amy. So we want to the reason I want to introduce you is we we have this test that we have uh about what's really important here. And uh because you guys are into mental health and recovery, you will um when we're done with you, you're gonna need it. So uh but anyway, no, we just uh we want to talk about uh what's going on with the merger and what you guys are doing, and this it's called Art Community, our mission, how we're doing things together. But before that, our research and development department, which is down at the other end, which he remains MICLess. I guess he does have a mic in case we have a Today is a new day, okay. He does have a mic. Alec, you've come up with uh what's important about March 24th every year. And one of the things, it's National Cheese Steak Day. Not Cheesecake Day. I thought it said cheesecake. I have to look at it too. You have a whole different flavor than me. Your brain was going a certain direction, but it's national, not cheesecake. I think we've had that several times already.
SPEAKER_06Well, it's almost my birthday, and cheesecake is my favorite. So I'm disappointed.
SPEAKER_05We'll have a Lamanda's Cheesecake Day on your birthday, I'm sure. We can make it up if it doesn't exist. Somebody made this stuff up. So anyway, National Cheese Steak Day is a sandwich, fantastic sandwich. Um, the great debate is who started it? Where did it first come from? It's uh such competition, it's called like March Madness for Chees Steak.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Did you know that? Yeah, it did. It kind of did.
SPEAKER_02Like it's it's either one way or the other, but isn't it all in Philadelphia?
SPEAKER_05It's um well, I think it is, yeah.
SPEAKER_02I think it's uh Philly cheesesteak.
SPEAKER_05Uh-huh. Philly cheesesteak. But where did it actually start in what year, Miriam? You were there.
SPEAKER_02It was the day before I was born, so my memory is a little off.
SPEAKER_05Okay, so 1930. 1930, somewhere, so we'll give you a pass there. It was uh a guy named Pat Oliveri, something like that. And he was actually a hot dog vendor. Now, how do you get from hot dog to cheesesteak? And our friends from Astro, you can join in on that, too. If you guys I mean you guys probably know the stuff already.
SPEAKER_02Between liking pork and beef.
SPEAKER_05So anyway, okay. So you probably don't know that, but you probably know how the longest cheesesteak was. How how many feet was it? Okay.
SPEAKER_02I have no idea.
SPEAKER_05Okay. All right.
SPEAKER_02510, I believe. 510. You were there.
SPEAKER_05That's great. That was after 1930. So that was a few years later when you when you were watching stuff. So I was. Okay. So what goes really good with cheesesteak?
SPEAKER_02Fries.
SPEAKER_05Mm-hmm. Fries. Mm-hmm. But not on this day. But not on this day. Amy, you love these, I heard. National Chocolate Covered Raisin Day.
SPEAKER_04You don't love those. Yeah, that's gross. Okay.
SPEAKER_02Thank you, Amanda. It's gross. Chocolate covered raisins need to be sprinkled in your popcorn at the movies. Oh, Miriam, you're gross nightmare. You know. See? Okay, Robert and I, we're we're right there.
SPEAKER_05Okay. Miriam, was that when they had talkies yet when you started doing that?
SPEAKER_02No, they were still playing the piano.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_05Very good.
SPEAKER_02And yeah. It was it was it was enjoyable. So you needed the sweet and the salty to make it through.
SPEAKER_05So actually in 1927 is when these things kind of really kicked off. 1927, which was only three years before the cheesesteak thing, okay? And who's to the same thing? So now people are saying who's to blame for this? Who's to blame for what?
SPEAKER_03The chocolate covered raisins.
SPEAKER_05Uh Miriam. She was eating popcorn and she said, I need something to go with my popcorn. And then when she got out of there, she was hungry, so she went and got a cheesesteak. So anyway, but Amy, seriously. Seriously. Raisins are full of calcium, potassium, and iron and fiber, and vitamin B, and you put a little dark chocolate on there, it's good for you. You might as well try it.
SPEAKER_04So That sounds like a multivitamin.
SPEAKER_05It is.
SPEAKER_06You can put lipstick on a pig and it's still a pig. Put chocolate on a raisin, it's still a raisin.
SPEAKER_05All right, one last question about this, and again, this is to honor all those people who are into national chocolate-covered raisin day. Do you like chocolate-covered grapes?
unknownNo.
SPEAKER_05Not that. I like frozen grapes. I know you do. With a little chocolate on the side. Okay. Okay. Keep them separate. Okay. Last thing. Now we have the Cheesecake Day. We have the National Chocolate Covered Raisin Day. And it gets balanced out with American Diabetes Association.
Diabetes Outdoors And Health
SPEAKER_02I was looking at that going, okay. Carbs, sugar, and diabetes. Yes. All the things.
SPEAKER_05Anyway, we won't talk anymore about that. Other than three 34.2 million Americans have diabetes, and uh about uh 7.3 got it, and they don't know it. So that's unfortunate.
SPEAKER_06And my husband does. He has type one. Um and you know, one of the things that he always says when someone asks him or anything like that, he really promotes and says, being outdoors is free insulin. And so on today I want to say that because I think we talk a lot about sunshine, we talk about fresh air with in regards to mental health and grounding and getting outside and the exercise. But I don't think sometimes that we also tie that to some of the medical concerns, such as diabetes. Uh but there is often times where um Stevens, and he's type one, so it's the more serious one, um, but that it is managed because of his activity outdoors. So I think it's just a reminder for all of us vitamin D is is good, walking is good, fresh air is good.
SPEAKER_05So you decided to make this a serious thing, didn't you?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, I think we could do that. Good for you. You talked a lot about chocolate-covered raisins, and that's gross.
Why Astra Formed Through Merger
SPEAKER_05So anyway, yeah, no, it is a serious disease, and there are ways to take care of it, and that was one. Yeah, very good. So speaking of taking care of uh people, um, we have had a long-standing relationship at Topeka Rescue Mission with Vallejo, um former name, and also family service and guidance, um, I s especially uh Vallejo in regards to adults that we've worked with. And uh Robert Amy, you both are um former employees of Vallejo, uh, which is now then merged with family service and guidance uh to be Astra Mental Health and Recovery. Astra Mental Health and Recovery. And this is uh kicked off at the beginning of the year with this uh two mental health, outstanding mental health organizations in our community, uh doing uh coming together to get better, um to serve better. So talk a little bit about that. Um it wasn't something just decided on the spur of the moment. It was planned out for a period of time. What was the why of bringing these two together?
SPEAKER_01Uh from my perspective, a lot of the reason why we emerged is because it just made sense. You had two great facilities that were providing very similar services. And when we both became CCBHCs, we then both had to serve the entirety of the lifespan. So it just made sense for us to just merge into one. You mentioned CC Yeah, Certified Community. Community Behavior Health Clinic. Okay.
SPEAKER_05So why was that good? Um was there just made sense, but was there some other advantages to that? Because it's always challenging when you have two long-term organizations that come together. You gotta have new business cards for one, uh new title, new everything. Uh but what was some of the reasons that better together? Um was it better to be able to serve the community, better funding-wise? Are there particular grants that maybe could come in that you couldn't get before? What were some of the top reasons?
SPEAKER_01Um I would say some of it was guided by the state, and then a lot of it is around funding and it it just so we weren't double dipping into the same pot, and it just made sense for us to combine our efforts.
SPEAKER_04I think the other major um positive piece that comes out of it is there's no gaps now from a child who turns 18, there's a smooth transition into adult services. So those gaps that sometimes people get lost or they go untreated for a couple of years, especially in those 20-year-olds that are, you know, young, not really comfortable in making those changes, this really smooths that over for them and makes it easier.
SPEAKER_05What is the um I I think a lot of people are aware of um there are mental health needs and services in our community. Um probably gonna be some time before I quit San Valleo. You know, I I catch it and then I always said that Astra. A lot of people. But what is the what is the need in regards to the volume of people in the Pekoshawnee County area um that need services? Um number wise, I know that I'm putting you on the spot here, but uh at one time I've heard some pretty high numbers of people who are needing assistance um in a variety of different areas of mental health, behavioral health, um, and now adding in the the uh the the bigger composites gotta be a lot of people.
SPEAKER_01Number wise, I really don't have an exact number. I do know that with Topeka kind of being the central for mental health services for many years, with Minegers being here, and then we had uh Parkview before Stormontville took that over in the state hospital, a lot of those individuals are still in our community and still receiving community services that they need.
SPEAKER_05So from your perspective, um research or what you've heard or whatever, has there been a growing number of families and individuals who are in need of mental health services compared to maybe what it was 10 years ago or five years ago or maybe even before that?
SPEAKER_04It may not be that the numbers are different than what they were, but the stigma has come away some. Talk about that. You have people that are now able to access and not fearful of the access. Um I don't know that the instances of mental health are on the rise. There are awareness, our uh having the door open, people able to walk through it for finally. Um that seems to make a big change for folks.
Stigma Shifts And Topeka Context
SPEAKER_05I know there was a number of years there was uh unmasking stigma um uh banquet that basically highlighted people who have suffered from mental health challenges, in some situations, homelessness, uh both, and those kind of things, and say, okay, we're gonna take the mask off to be able to see the person behind the label. Yeah. And uh labels get thrown around a lot, don't they? They sure do. Yeah, yeah. So Topeka's been rich in mental health history. Um again, Minegar, Topeka State Hospital. There was a memorial hospital at one time, Parkview, Stromont Vale West, and so on and so forth. But a lot of those things begin to peel back and community-based mental health support programs begin to step up. And so there's been a lot of stepping up that's been going on. So talk about just generally, uh, Robert, your community support services. What does that involve?
SPEAKER_01So community support services really kind of involves supporting our individuals where they are, whether they live in independently, in a group home, even in the facilities. We support we provide peer support, case management, um uh tenant care services, anything that they really need to be able to build those skills to become more independent and successful.
SPEAKER_05So the goal is to be walk alongside people so that they can become independent? Is that is that independence? Is that like we don't need you anymore or um in some cases it could be.
SPEAKER_01Um I would see it more as independence in guiding their own life and having a quality of life that they that's meaningful for them. Is that in the employment area as well?
SPEAKER_05Um, it's kind of like we talked about earlier, diabetes. Um you know, it's a serious disease um and many, many people suffer from it. Um 7.8 million or whatever, don't even know they have it. Maybe one reason they don't want to know, because you know, it's just troubling to think that there's anything wrong with this. But like diabetes, whether it's one or a two, a type one or a two, it takes awareness, it takes um intervention, and it takes maintenance to do that. And so we'd like to think we don't ever have to have a Astra in our community, but we do. And it may need to be there for extended periods of time. Amy, your uh your uh uh position there now is traditional services, program manager. Traditional services, what does that mean?
SPEAKER_04Well, I have traditional case management, I have two teams um that have approximately 10 to 15 case managers per team. And then I also have their um benefits assistance uh program. Oh and that is the program that um most people identify as SOR, which um that program works to get people connected to um Social Security, um either disability or income support. And then it also helps with Medicaid, Medicand, um getting people connected to the resources that they need.
SPEAKER_05That's huge. That's absolutely huge, yeah. Um so case management, what does that mean?
SPEAKER_04Case management is having somebody that walks alongside you, um helping you with um either working on the coping skills that you have that you've been working with someone else to identify. Um sometimes it's helping find new ones. Um it also helps find the resources in our community that they uh might not be aware of, um, don't know how to access. The case manager um walks alongside and helps identify all the gaps and then helps them to work a goal and a plan to find their um way without them eventually. So yeah.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it's kind of we like to work our way out of work. Like you sure. Uh that'd be awesome. The same thing with homeless. We'd like to work our way out of it. And we exactly have a plan that possibly end it someday as in regards to chronic homeless. We know that won't be totally ended, but it'll be a goal. So it's a great goal. Lamanda's uh CEO rescue mission. Um providing services for people coming in right off the streets, uh being referred to by different organizations, including Astra Mental Health and Recovery. Um, how important is it to you as CEO for Topeka Rescue Mission to be engaged with mental health services like Astra?
Community Support And Case Management
SPEAKER_06Mm-hmm. I I'm not sure how we would do this work without being engaged, um, without Astra Mental Health and Recovery. When we look at the individuals that we are serving, and we think to ourselves, okay, where are they at and where do they want to go? Um I d don't often know anyone really, I guess, that would not benefit from the in-between, where they're at and where they're going, where they would not benefit from having Astra in the in-betweens. Um and then from the rescue mission side, we value them so much because our role is sheltering, our role is food, our role is case management from the side of helping people with evictions, helping people with utility bills, helping people with job employment, those kinds of things. Yet if we have all of these ingredients, but we don't have an oven to bake it in, then we we can't have the finished product. And so often we see individuals at the rescue mission that are trying to put together all the ingredients, but haven't dealt with the addiction piece or haven't dealt with the ingredient that they need for mental health. Um, and so I feel like there is so much that we couldn't do without some type of addiction or mental illness support that we get from them. And so I'm I'm thankful on that. I would also say from the CEO viewpoint, I am particularly thankful for Amy and Robert. Um, because with them going through the merger, me being a newer CEO, they are going through changes, but we also are going through changes at TRM because we are evaluating where our community is and what the community is needing. And sometimes that's looking at the gaps. It's not always to sit in a room and talk about what we're all doing. Sometimes leaders need to be sitting in a room saying what we're not doing, the reason why, and how do we kind of be each other's other side of that? And Robert and Amy have been instrumentally a blessing to me because I've been able to tell them here's what we can offer at TRM. I think maybe we can get there, but we're not there yet. Or this is what we need, and I have no way of knowing how we get that. They've said the same thing with us. And so these two individuals are trustworthy, they are honest, they are strong leaders. Um, and I feel like even in the last several months when we all felt like we were up to our eyeballs, we have still been able to merge our organizations together and be stronger partners. And some of that has been because of conversations where we're like, well, we don't know this, or I'm not sure how we do this, but we trust each other enough that we're working on it. And so I appreciate what they do for our guest and the people we serve, but I personally, from leader to leader, appreciate their hearts, their wisdom, but probably most importantly, their their authenticity big time.
SPEAKER_05So Mary Monore is shaking our heads with what we're saying. Thank you. Yeah, but it's true. You guys have just really stepped up in so many ways. And so kind of pivoting into I mean, you have a we we'd spend all day or ten days talking about all the services you provide, but specifically focusing on the homeless right now and the different challenges that people who experience homelessness face. Um intersect well, um to say the least with the whole system around homeless issues. Talk about, Robert, about the um the different uh activities or programs that you have specifically addressing the issue of homelessness and mental health and behavioral health.
Why TRM Needs Mental Health Partners
SPEAKER_01Okay. So we have what we call our hope team, which is homeless outreach. Um it's a team of four case managers and a team manager that will go out, do outreach on the streets, um, support the mission, um, do outreach pretty much wherever we get reports that individuals may be. Um they help support them in accessing additional services, supports, resources, um, housing. And then the team manager also supports um the efforts with the um moving ahead partnership. And then um we also have another name change. Yeah, think about that. Yeah. Um and then we also have another uh team that is also supportive of not just homeless individuals, but they do support that as well, is our safe team. Um, and that's uh team of two case managers and a team manager and our housing specialist that will kind of support the HOPE team and then really kind of meet a need where that gap may be with the HOPE team.
SPEAKER_05There's another acronym, PATH. Yes. And so what is PATH?
SPEAKER_01PATH is our is a part of our HOPE team that is grant funded. Um it's two positions that are specifically we receive funding for to help support individuals, and it kind of helps with the follow through and the engagement.
SPEAKER_05Tell you when you mention uh the mobile or moving head partnership, not mobile. Uh we'll get back to that in a minute. Moving Head Partnership MAP, former mobile access partnership, started really with TRM of Aleo coming together to begin with. And it's grown a lot. Um, and it's grown to the degree That there are so many good intersections here with AstraNow that we're able actually once a month to sit down and do joint case management to be able to talk about how we can best help these individuals. One was yesterday. And to be in uh your your office over there at 2401, being able to sit down with folks and have this uh conversation, how can we best network our systems together as well as um how can we best serve the people who are in need? Um can't get better than that. No. But to Lamanda's point, it reveals gaps. And so um, as we do better, we find out that there is um gaps in different things that we're doing. And so the good thing about it is we're talking about how can we fill those.
SPEAKER_04What an exciting time for Topeka.
SPEAKER_05I think it is.
SPEAKER_04I mean, this is probably you know, I've been in this area all of my life, and this is probably the first time I've really got to watch where the collaboration is there. People are talking, people are working together. Miriam and I just the other day were like, okay, we have similar yet different, but how can we work together to get people on the same page? That is true collaboration that you know we don't always see. Um, and we hear a lot of the divisive points of view about homelessness and we hear it about mental health, but we really have this unique, very um exciting time to be in Topeka to watch as everybody's coming together. The one-stop shop has taken form. And look at how many people are at the table. That's right. You know, as a lot. And so much that we go, oh, are we still gonna have room? You know, that's a great problem to have. It is. You know, one that we haven't had in the past. So I think it speaks mountains to the leadership that the community has that's willing to come and sit down and actually collaborate. Whereas before it was, oh, I don't do that, oh, I don't do that. Well, we're saying maybe I can't do that, but how can we get it done? Who can and that's the right thing? That's the huge key.
SPEAKER_05How do we get it done? Trevor Burrus, Jr. Miriam, you um have um as a chief strategy officer for Topeka Rescue Mission, you're looking at the bigger picture here, well which you always have, but you're looking at But your past uh uh work in working United Way as the director of United Way here and also in California. This coming together, I mean it's kind of like that live united concept, right? So tell us about your perspective on what you're seeing now in Topeka, just kind of what Amy is saying. We're seeing more come together, not not a just started from nothing. It's been kind of percolating for a while. But what what from your perspective of this coming together and and doing everything together best we can?
Homeless Outreach HOPE SAFE PATH
SPEAKER_02It's the most wonderfully difficult thing you will ever hear about. I mean, because it is, you know it's the right thing, but it is complicated and complex, right? You I mean, you're meshing different systems with different perspectives. Um, but you know, and and it's one of the things that I appreciate so much that United Way continues to say, and Brett says it on every Tuesday meeting, we are there because we have our the people that we're serving at the center of our work, right? If our focus is together on the people that we're trying to serve, we will be incredibly more successful at helping them, right? Because and when we work with our different partners, it's the same way. When we know what astra recovery and mental health, mental health and recovery, I'm trying to get the whole name in because MHR. I keep saying Vallejo too. Um so when we can work together and learn about each other, then it changes things. You know, if there's anything TRM talks about, it's the fact that everything we do requires relationship. It requires relationship with the people we serve, it requires relationship with our partners. And when we learn to know our partners, we work together because we better because we have a relationship, right? We're more understanding, we are more educated on what possibilities are. We have the opportunity to think in different ways because we know them. We know where their hearts are. All of that just makes it so much better for the folks at the center of our work, which is the folks that we serve. And so, you know, what Amy didn't tell you is I went over there saying, Hey, can you all help? Because we've got a staff person that needs to learn SOAR, and there's no dad gum training anymore. You know, so it was being it and knowing that I could go, and she would either say yes or no, and either and you weren't afraid to ask so you had never looked at it. That's exactly right. And it was gonna be okay because then we could have even a deeper conversation. Collaboration is amazing. The one collaboration that I think we could all look at right now, um, and I believe that family service and guidance was definitely involved, and that's in Pine Ridge. When Pine Ridge Prep started with kids that are at extremely low poverty levels and had ACE scores at the age of four and five of anywhere between seven, eight, nine, ten, and ten is the high. It took a lot of partners coming together and a lot of partners being willing to do things that they had never done before that was going to be complicated and messy, but it didn't matter because we had people in the center that needed us. And it's the same with the work that we're doing now.
Making Care Real Without Exploiting
SPEAKER_05I think it's probably uh easy to say we're all uh feeling like this is our purpose in life to do this, this is our mission, this is why we do what we do. Um we're doing it um in different areas differently, but yet coming together. But yet there's a large part of our population that doesn't necessarily um walk in the same shoes we walk in that uh aren't necessarily on our mission, but they would like people taken care of, but they don't do it full-time. They don't do it day and night 24-7, uh, haven't uh necessarily done it for years, but they would like to help. How do we I say all that to say if they don't walk in our shoes, it's not their particular assignment, their mission in life, their calling, whatever. How do we communicate to them um what we see and the value of the person-centered approach to what we're doing? It's not just about allocating dollars to organizations to get staff to be able to put band-aids on things, but we're trying to be there for the person so that that person can be as whole as possible. How do we communicate that? How do you communicate that in regards to what Astra is doing now or what you're hoping to? And uh I know we got a very special person who's in the room today, and she can join us on the mic anytime she wants. That's a director of marketing development. Um Pam Evans, Pam's over there, uh joining us today. But what what is it that you think we need to do to help the general population not be afraid of mental illness or addiction, not be afraid of homeless people, not be afraid of the things that they don't know. How do we help them to understand that these are our neighbors?
SPEAKER_01We should care for all. For me, exposure, exposure, exposure. I mean, sharing those good stories that we do have, the good collaborations that we've been able to accomplish and showing the good and the work that we do.
SPEAKER_04And I think it's a little different, but yet same is that you have to highlight and make it uh real for them. And the only way to do that is to show a person who has it that they wouldn't even think. You know, you have to it has to be somebody you know, has to be somebody that you can touch, you have to make it real for them. Um it is real, and I think that you know it's sharing the successes of people, even the small steps and and reframing it for people that that is a success. Sometimes we think of it as well, that was nothing I could do that in my sleep. But for others, it's it's a mountain that they've climbed to be able to do that. And to showcase that, um, I think we have to make it real for people and to highlight the human experience.
SPEAKER_05How do we do that with people who are in this space who are either experiencing homelessness, mental health addiction, whatever, and repect r respect their dignity to make sure we're not um um exploiting them because they're in this journey of suffering, um of challenge. Uh what do you find in regards to people that you're trying to make sure that um them talking about it, them taking the mask off, them um trying to break down the stigma, how do you do that um and also make sure they're protected?
SPEAKER_04Well, it's interesting um because we have a program at Astra that is peer support, and it's individuals who have lived experience that are going out and sharing their stories. Um you find the ones that want to. You know, people who are ready for that. And are ready to share that and to bring others along in the journey with them. Um our peer support is an amazing program. Um it's all lived experience. It's walking alongside others to show them that they can. Because they've been there before. That's it. They've been there before. Yes, they've lived it. Um they are now, you know, great examples of where they can what what they can accomplish with a mental illness. Um and then also, you know, they are not we have a many that are not afraid to share their story, um, both publicly and privately, and I think that's where you start.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I think that that's right. And we need to continually do that because I I think that uh something that we've learned at the rescue mission, um, I'm guessing you have as well, is that mental illness, um addiction, homelessness, and all the things that are associated with that don't just affect that person. Um, it affects people that love them. Um family members, friends, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, kids. The whole ten yards is that many people that decide to get involved get involved because they've been personally affected by somebody they care for. And so but sometimes they're afraid to talk about, well, my son or my daughter.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Um so how do we continue to move forward in destigmatizing, lifting the mask off? Um you talked about peer support. People have been there, they're willing to share their story, they're actually helping people to where they've been. How do we how do we go to the next level? Because I think there's still, and I know that the rescue missions face that, a stigma. Homeless. We don't want them here. We we we're afraid of them, we don't understand them. Um not generally, but when you talk about maybe doing something different, um maybe more shelter or something like that, people are going, well, that's a nice thing, but don't do it around me. How do we go from where we are? We uh we've seen ourselves beginning to work better together. Um communication is at a crescendo of of moving forward. Um and and and sharing services, uh map being one of those shared services. How do we help the rest of the community not just look at it from a distance, but actually see it as it's important for me as a member of this community to want to know and want to be a part of help.
Collaboration Reveals Gaps And Fixes
SPEAKER_04I think it's really interesting that um you said the word communication because that's where it all boils down to communication, communication. And I love that you know, we don't treat our neighbors. It's the verbiage that you use. These are our neighbors. And how empowering that is. Um you have to start with language. Um we've seen this in every realm of everything that we've done in social service. We changed the verbiage to make it person-centered, and it's you know, it's your neighbor. Right. This is these are human beings.
SPEAKER_05It's not a hard to want to throw a neighbor under the bus, right?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and it's not them, it's all of us. We are one degree away from somebody who has a mental illness, no matter who we are. You know, we are a couple of degrees away from someone who's homeless. We're some of us are one paycheck away from being with them. Um and it's us. It's all of us. Yeah, it is a community effort. It is our neighbors, it is the language that we choose to use, and how we again set a role model for others that this is the language we're using now. We are this is our neighbor. Um, I think that's whole the it's communication.
SPEAKER_02It's the very And I think it's us, it's all of us talking about it all the time. You know, I'm sure that in church on Sunday mornings people are kind of like, oh, seriously, is Mary, I'm gonna talk about this again. Yeah. Because, but what it has done is it helps educate people and it also takes it away from being 10 arms lengths away, right? Because I bring it right in and I talk about things that I know might make people uncomfortable, but then they have the chance to say, so aren't you terrified to go to the mission every day? No, I've actually never ever been scared to go to the mission, except sometimes if I know I have to go in and talk to LaManne.
SPEAKER_05After you survive that year, everything's good.
Language Neighbors And Everyday Anxiety
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. No, seriously. And no, she's wonderful. So funny. She's wonderful. Um it's seriously, it's that opportunity that I have to say, I've learned so much. My eyes have been opened so much to who folks are that are experiencing homelessness, who folks are that are experiencing mental health challenges. Because I think sometimes too, you know, when we think about, I could say that I did, when I thought about mental health, I thought about the big diagnoses, right? I didn't necessarily think about addiction. I didn't necessarily think about depression or situations with extreme anxiety or even sort of anxiety, right? Those are all mental health situations. They don't all have to have this huge big diagnosis that can be debilitating, but they might be debilitating to people. I've had so many more people that I know be willing to say, oh, and by the way, Miriam, did you know that I'm being treated for anxiety? Or did you know that I am talking with a counselor or something like that because I have feelings that I would like to resolve kind of things? I think it's up to us to be their advocates, to be advocates for people and allow people to see this other side of the whole situation, right? Where it's different, right? It just doesn't have to be so scary all the time.
Leadership Vulnerability And Trust
SPEAKER_06You know, and I would add to that, um, I agree with what Robert and Amy and Miriam have all said. I would say just an additional two things to those. One, um, I feel like as leaders, one thing that we need to probably be doing differently and more of is being vulnerable with our own perspective. Um, you know, I agree with Amy, communication matters, language matters, yet if all of the talk is still, this is what they deal with, this is what their struggles are. Um it's so much more powerful to say, well, and I have struggled with anxiety, and here's what I've done. And for some reason, and I know this is not popular, but I'm gonna keep saying it, and I feel like I've been on this bandwagon for two or three years now, it starts with me. Within TRM's organization, I cannot expect my staff to relate to someone in front of them when they're dying inside themselves. And if those staff members don't feel like they can be honest about their addiction, and addiction is not all alcohol and drugs. Um, I'm gonna be vulnerable because I think I know our team enough. Um, we had our um top leadership connect group yesterday, and guess what we admitted to? Food. And so we talked for almost an hour about we often go unnoticed because it's more accepted in society that alcohol, drugs, it's looked at differently. But the three or four of us that were in that room talked about unhealthy food habits we have and that it is still a form of gluttony. It is still a form of we are addicted to it. We are addicted to this habit tied to this meal time, tied to this. We had this conversation, and I I didn't say this in the group, but I've told them since then. I was so thankful that I had three and then the people that were leading it, so another three people, so six people in that room that all opened up on their struggles with food. But guess who started the conversation? I had to talk about my issue with food. You can take out food and you can put in pornography, you can put in gambling, you can put in anxiety, you can put in mental illness, whatever the case may be. If we as leaders in this community don't open up and be transparent about what we are facing, what we have faced, or what we are fearful to face, then we have a breakdown in our next people. And our people are doing the serving. And so if my people know, if Miriam knows, she can come to me and tell me anything that she's struggling with, and that I have her back, whether it's just me and her, uh, me and her praying, or we take it to the next level of whatever is needed, days off, whatever. She knows that. And when I am consistent for her, then she knows she can identify it and some of her staff, they're struggling, they're off, something's not right. And she's going to then mimic, good or bad, what I role model for her. And so I believe in all of these conversations and I believe in communication, and I know the importance of social media and telling the stories and putting people's faces on there. But quite frankly, I would like to challenge the community of what impact would that be made if that was my face that we were sharing on Facebook and it was my story for people to know that sometimes they think it's these set of people that have these problems. And then I think I want to ask leaders, would you be comfortable the story you're asking someone to do for you? Would you do it? And would you want, when we're as a provider, we want 10 shares, we want 25 shares, we want it to be viewed 2,500 times. Is that what we want with our own stories? So that's the only thing that I would add is I think there is a beautiful time right now for our community. We're understanding people, we have the right heart, we've got partnership ideas, but are we really being transparent of how a one-stop shop could have benefited us in our time? Or could we do we wish that now we're doing therapy? Man, if we would have only done it at 20 when we were struggling with identity. All these different things, I feel like those conversations are important. The second thing I think is important is I understand Miriam and I are in this boat all the time, Alec too. There is an important part of marketing, and we have to tell our story in TRM's role, we have to showcase what God's doing and give him glory for it. We've got to tell donors, hey, we had a financial deficit last year and we need you. We need you in 2026. All of those things are important. Yet I think there is power in the one-on-one conversations. Because, for instance, one of the things that can be tricky between us and um Astra is sometimes not no fault of their own, they don't have bed space or the timing is not conducive. You know, it's going to take six hours to get this processed. I, as the leader of TRM, can't be mad at Astra. I know because I have the relationships in there what they're facing. And so when I'm out in the community and someone instantly wants to say, well, this could all be better if Astra didn't have a six-hour wait and had 20 more beds. Well, my response to that is, yeah, but do you realize the pressures that Astra is under and why they don't have the more bed space or what it takes to run the beds that they do have? Because I have the similar situation here at TRM. So in addition to when you're talking about how do we get this word out about partnerships, how do we get this word out about care for individuals, I think it's also important that we have each other's back. I'm not disputing that some of the wait times are too long. Just like I can't dispute the fact that yes, sometimes I restrict a guest and they can't come back for a while. Those problems are there. Yet, in order to talk about them professionally, solutions based, and to try to educate in one on one conversations, it's not just easy as TRM not restricting people, and it's not just as easy as asking. Dramagically being able to take somebody in the immediate part of them saying, I don't want to be addicted anymore. Other conversations have to happen around that. And so I think that's important that we have the social media aspect and all that, yes. But it's also the one-on-one conversations where you do talk about the problems that all of our organizations face, but when it's with kindness and respect and solution-based.
Community Training Mental Health First Aid
SPEAKER_05Well, we we discover gaps as we talked about before, and then we say, okay, what can we do about those? Right. It's easy if we don't understand another person or an organization to find fault in what they are not doing. And we think they should be doing until we find out why they can't do it. And so that maybe it's a gap. And so what does that reveal about what we do something? Pam Evans, Director of Marketing and Development, is here today. And we got a microphone for you. Pam, thanks for joining us.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, thank you. I just wanted to add on to, you know, when you asked how do we get people to understand, you know, how do we break that stigma? One thing that we are continuing to do for the community, for John John Smith, who lives just down the street, the education of just what are mental health challenges. We've got several different free classes for the community. I know when I started at formerly Family Service and Guidance Center, I knew nothing about mental health. I thought I did. I didn't. But I went through one of the adult mental health first aid classes, and boy, were my eyes opened. And just having, you know, some baseline knowledge about what does anxiety look like, or depression or substance use, but most importantly, learning how to help an individual who's in crisis. So, you know, throughout the year of 2026 and beyond, we will be offering these free courses and you know, it's on Astor Mental Health and Recovery's Facebook page, website, all that good stuff. But I would just encourage everybody just to learn more. Umerstanding goes so far in your ability to, if I see someone, you know, laying on a bench, um, not to judge, but to understand or at least have more empathy and have a better understanding of what they might be going through and how I might be able to help them.
Citygate Network And Holistic Care
SPEAKER_05Senator, it's been said before, what we don't understand, oftentimes we fear. What we fear, we fight because we're afraid of that thing that we don't understand. And sometimes that fight is just judgment or shaming someone or shaming an organization or whatever. And uh be able um agency to agency, organization to organization, to be able again to talk to each other, to be able to share, understand our assets, our liabilities, the gaps, and see how we can do it better together, and then being able to offer that to the community, like you talked about, Pam, um that that's an ongoing, will always be ongoing um uh objective. But we we see progress. We see progress in those areas. We see progress between organizations, we see progress in the community to some degree. Uh before we close today, Lamanda um uh City Gate Network, we've um interviewed people from different rescue missions um in the gate. Um and um um I want to say in the probably the early 90s, um uh this is an organization that's been around about a hundred years, about 300, 350 rescue ministries in North America. Um I was asked to teach class on mental health because rescue missions were not recognizing what it was.
SPEAKER_02That's hard to imagine, isn't it? Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. And the reason I was asked, I'd been background in mental health with Minegar State Hospital before I came to the mission. And so I was kind of shocked about how many people in this work did not work with their mental health centers. Um but they they it was kind of like siloed for sure. But how hungry they were to understand about mental health because they were facing folks coming through their doors and they didn't know what to do with them. And so oftentimes because they didn't know what to do, the person couldn't stay there anymore, but they didn't have a relationship like we have had here in Topeka. Fast forward that now to 2026 now. You've been involved with Citigate Network, you've been in leadership capacities. Where is that organization called Citigate Network today in regards to addressing the issues of people coming through their doors who are struggling with behavioral health issues?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, I would say one of the things that I'm really proud of the Citigate Network is even though it's faith-based, they also do a really good job to say we do this work to serve because of the biblical values. Yet they also welcome the science knowledge and the understanding of how medications can be beneficial, diagnoses can be beneficial, therapy is beneficial. There, in my opinion, is not a stigma within the Citigate network of, no, we don't do that. Just keep praying, or just go to church, or just do these. Um I feel like Citigate uses mental health services as holistic care in in addition to the scriptural based and the prayer and the faith pieces. Um I would say when you look at the rescue missions, that partnership relationship is probably still split. Um, when I'm in some of the CEO discussions, I will have some rescue missions that say their mental health facility actually writes grants for their shelter. And so the mental health services happen on site at the rescue mission. They'll either have a whole office, a wing, or a whole building that's on site. And that's the level of collaboration there is because if you think about it, that is where in Topeka can you go and at any time access 260 individuals that probably need it. You can access it at 600 Kansas. Um, and so I do think we need to move towards that. And that that's a two-way street. The mental health facility has to say, we're going to prioritize the Topeka rescue mission as a place that deserves services on site. The rescue mission has to say, and what do we need to do to help make that happen? Um, so it's two-way. I think I see that at Citigate, and then there's another side where I will say, because there's forums and stuff, there's questions that are asked. Sometimes people come to me because I lead the emerging leaders group. But my first thought is, well, hey, do you have somebody at your mental health facility that you can contact? Crickets. No, I don't. They won't work with us. They're faith, we're faith-based. They won't work with us because it's not a part of their grant funding. They won't, well, me, I've got my two main ones are Amy and Robert. But honestly, there's probably a dozen people that I could call right now for different things at Astra. And I'm thankful for that. So I think that there is still this.
SPEAKER_05So it hasn't come as far as I'd hoped it would.
SPEAKER_06No, but I would say the discussion of it is um the importance of us not only understanding mental health needs of those we serve, but there is a lot of discussion happening right now in Citigate, and I would say for probably the past three years about um self-care and taking care of your first block. Um, and a lot of those sessions when you go to it are um knowledge based on secondhand trauma that we face, um, trauma interventions like TBRI, those kinds of things. So I do think we have moved the pendulum a lot since you in the 90s as far as what's offered. Um, but I think when you look at partnerships, it's still very wide scope on what's available to you.
SPEAKER_05So I would say to pick us at the bar. Um just keep keep moving in the right direction. Yes, Mayor.
SPEAKER_02And I think I think the situation there is it's not that there isn't the recognition, it's that you have to develop relationships. That's right. And if those relationships haven't been there, it takes a while to get there. Even if you know we need a relationship with our mental health providers, it isn't always just as easy as knowing it. Because now there has to be reciprocal. Exactly. Otherwise, it's just a number or an email address. And that's what's beautiful here, right? Is that we want to work together. We want to find the way.
SPEAKER_05And we can be safe enough and vulnerable enough to talk about the tough stuff that we are seeing happen or maybe not happening and see what we would do about that.
SPEAKER_02And so And things we're not good at, right? Right. Like we're not good at this. We need your help because we're not good at this. Exactly. Or we don't have the capacity to be good at it.
Secret Sauce Relationship And Closing
SPEAKER_05That's right. Right? And it's not our assignment necessarily. It's somebody else's, and how can we work with that? Okay, one last question. Uh well, first of all, I want to give you an opportunity with Astra to share anything you want to say, but what what is the probably the the secret sauce to being successful in regards. Robert's why is he asking this question? Uh there's no wrong answer here, okay. But uh but I think that um what is the real you know, we we talk about uh facilities, we talk about case management, we talk about, you know, the different things that you can offer for f people to uh be able to go from where they are in life to improve stability, those kind of things. But when you boil it down to it, um what is the most important thing that you guys are We're both like, okay, we're ready. Okay, what is that?
SPEAKER_04Relationship, relationship, relationship. It's relationship with the individuals that we serve. It is the relationships that we have with our community partners. Everything boils down to are we listening, are we talking? Are we getting to know one another?
SPEAKER_05Thank you. It's relationship. We can talk about pharmacology, we can talk about diagnoses, we can talk about labels, we can talk about all those things. We can talk about funding, we can talk comes down to relationships. Same thing here at TRM. All the things that TRM is doing, it's about relationships. And I and I wanted to bring that up because some people can kind of lost in the systems, but somebody that's listening right now can understand that the best medicine is relationships, a positive, healthy relationship. Um biblically we're told that to love our neighbors ourselves, love God, love our neighbor. Um we are um practically understanding that is that's what we want, that's what we crave, that's what we desire. Is somebody caring for us enough to know our name and to know our story and to be safe in that relationship? And so that can be organizationally or it can be individually. And I think that's one of the things that we we capitalize here on and and keep it going, moving forward, people centered. So Astra, mental health and recovery. Gonna get that down.
SPEAKER_01Anything else you'd like to share today? Um, one thing that I thought of when you guys were talking about that was uh a lot of people experience their struggles or their trauma through a relationship, or it's harmed by a relationship. And most of the time those can only be fixed through a new relationship. That's very good. Very good.
SPEAKER_05I was walking out a map here the other day, and there's a young lady who Lamanda knows very well. Um others do too. Been on the streets for about 10 years, and uh got housed here um about two Saturdays ago, I think. Um and um she follows me out of map and she says, Hey Thanks for being my family. Yeah. Just I was over there early this morning, and who would I see first thing? You know, she's volunteering. Yeah. You know, and she is gonna have dinner for you and some other people. Several years. I know you've got to do that.
SPEAKER_06I told her as soon as she got housed, she owed me dinner, so I can't wait to eat dinner in her home.
SPEAKER_05I think it's gonna be a great dinner once she gets that all going. So uh guys, thanks for being here. You are great friends. Have been for an extended period of time. We're looking forward to the next things as we adventure more into the area of uh helping our neighbors uh who are experiencing homelessness and with the moving ahead partnership, now the Compassion Impact Center here at Topeka Rescue Mission, gonna be talking more about that, working with Astro Mental Health and Recovery in so many different ways. So couldn't do it without you. And uh we're just glad you are friends.
SPEAKER_03We are so glad. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_05Thanks for being here. So thank you for listening to our community our mission, a podcast of the Topeka Rescue Mission. If you'd like more information about TRM, you could go to TRMonline.org. That's TRMonline.org. Also, you can find Astro Mental Health and Recovery out on Google and be able to find out more about the latest and incredible things that they're doing together as we help our neighbors together. Thanks for listening.