(Newton) – The Board of Directors of Mirror, Inc., a Kansas behavioral health organization, announces the appointment of Des Martens as Interim President/CEO, effective immediately.

              Martens joined Mirror in 2015 and most recently served as Vice President of Prevention Services.  Her early experience as a registered nurse ignited a passion to move upstream and invest in the field of prevention and health promotion in Kansas communities.  She has overseen the creation of STAND, Mirror’s nationally acclaimed youth development model which has had significant impact on reducing drug and alcohol use in many of the public schools in Harvey County. Martens also led the effort to develop a drug free community coalition in Harvey County, known as D-FY, including winning both state and federal funding to support the coalition’s work.  Recently, her team expanded to assist the state of Kansas in growing Youth Leadership in Kansas (YLINK) and implement Behavioral Health Initiatives in schools.

               Martens has served on the Governor’s Behavioral Health Services Planning Council Prevention Subcommittee and currently serves as President -Elect of the Newton area Chamber of Commerce.  Martens received the Kansas Prevention Leader Award in 2018 for exemplary work in community mobilization.  In 2021 Martens received the Newton Area Chamber’s Outstanding Citizen Award. She is a recent graduate of the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America’s National Coalition Academy, a trainer of trainers in SAMHSA’s Substance Abuse Prevention Skills Training, Ethics in Prevention and other evidence-based prevention programs.