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About US

Address

2209 SW 29th St, Topeka, KS 66611

Contact

(785) 266-8666

OUR MISSION
To support youth and communities in creating healthy and safe environments through crime prevention, substance abuse prevention,
and other behavioral health services.
OUR VISION
Healthy, safe and resilient communities.
A Few Words

About Us​

Prevention and Resiliency Services, Inc. (PARS) has provided prevention services in Shawnee County since 1965. When PARS was incorporated, it was known as National Council on Alcoholism, Kansas Division. The agency’s original focus was on increasing the understanding of alcoholism, its nature, its treatment and decreasing the harms and incidence of alcoholism.

As issues have changed and knowledge has evolved over the years, PARS has continually responded to emerging trends, research on the prevention of addiction, and how programs, practices and policies influence individuals and the environment in which they live. Our programs and activities recognize that the individual, family, school, and community domains are all interconnected and influence not only substance use, but also impact school dropouts, violence, suicide, teen pregnancy and other problem behaviors. PARS has a strong foundation of community, neighborhood, and school partnerships and has been nationally recognized for its substance abuse prevention and crime prevention services.

As a health and safety connector, PARS will continue to educate, engage, and empower our community to reduce substance abuse and crime in our community.

How We Operate

Key Values

  • Evidence-based and researched-based strategies are effective in reducing substance abuse and crime.
  • Community members play an essential role in preventing crime – it takes a community to impact change.
  • We must be current with trends related to substance abuse and behavioral health and we must learn from our work with community members.
  • To affect change within our community, we must partner with diverse stakeholders.
  • We must employ multiple strategies to reach our target audience; this is critical to our work.
  • Our community is defined by the people we serve.
GET TO KNOW US

Meet the Team

Mandy Czechanski

Executive Director

Lynn Smith

Community Prevention Consultant

Judy Wilson

Office Manager
National Night Out Program Coordinator

MANDY CZECHANSKI, Executive Director

mczechanski@parstopeka.org

Lynn Smith, Community Prevention Consultant

lsmith@parstopeka.org

Lynn is a graduate of Kansas State University with a degree in Kinesiology. Lynn joined the Prevention Services Department at PARS in June of 2012 as a Community Prevention Consultant. In this role, Lynn gives presentations in the schools and in the community addressing substance abuse and prevention education.

Prior to joining the Prevention Services Department, Lynn spent six years with Safe Streets (another program of PARS). At Safe Streets, Lynn was the Youth Development Coordinator and Community Mobilizer.

Lynn’s interest in Prevention work stems from wanting youth to be successful in life. Lynn
understands firsthand how using substances can negatively impact one’s life, so Lynn feels it’s important to educate today’s youth about the dangers of using alcohol, tobacco or other drugs. Outside of work, Lynn enjoys coaching sports and has done this for the past 20 years.

Judy Wilson, Office Manager &
National Night Out Program Coordinator

jwilson@safestreets.org

Judy Wilson serves as Office Manager and National Night Out Program Coordinator and has been with PARS since 2004. Her work involves multiple agency activities and she supports crime prevention programming through neighborhood watch, National Night Out and trainings.

Before joining PARS, Judy worked at Evergy (formerly known as Westar Energy) for almost 25 years as Administrative Assistant to high level executives. She brings legal, banking, education, insurance, wholesale distribution and medical experience in addition to holding Certified Administrative Professional and Organizational Management designations through the International Association of Administrative Professionals.

When not working Judy enjoys spending time with her husband Max, music, reading, volunteering with the Rescue Mission Rescue Run, and serving as an officer in the Rolling Meadows Neighborhood Association. Judy enjoys traveling to International Association of Administrative Professionals meetings.

One of her favorite quotes is from the Starfish Story “Let’s each make a difference with the talent we’ve been given.”

Dana Schwarz

Licensed Master Addictions Counselor

Irene Caballero

Bilingual Community Mobilizer

Madi Thimmesch

Communication & Education Specialist

Dana Schwarz, Licensed Master Addictions Counselor

dschwarz@parstopeka.org

Dana graduated from Washburn University in 2003 with Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing. She worked as an emergency room nurse and in rural medicine prior to returning back to Washburn University and completing her requirements to be a Licensed Addiction Counselor in 2011, and her Master of Arts with Addictions Counseling Emphasis in 2015.

Prior to working at Prevention and Resiliency Services Dana worked with incarcerated youth at Kansas Juvenile Complex. Dana’s area of focus and passion is working with at risk youth through prevention and treatment of substance use disorders. She as has been working in addiction counseling since 2011. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her husband Scott, watching their four children in their numerous activities, along with spending time with family, friends along with gardening and reading.

Irene Caballero, Bilingual Community Mobilizer

icaballero@parstopeka.org

Irene Caballero has worked at PARS as a Bilingual Community Mobilizer since 2009. Her work involves grant coordination as well as transcreation (language and culture) of agency materials into Spanish. Her knowledge and experience enable PARS to provide trainings, evaluations, and other educational services to Shawnee County’s Latino population.

A native of Monterrey, Mexico, Irene earned a BS in information systems at Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey. She worked as a corporate systems analyst and later joined the faculty of her alma mater. Irene’s heart for human development led her become a certified Neuro Linguistic Programming Practitioner.

Irene moved to Topeka, Kansas in 2005 and worked at the Kansas Hispanic and Latino American Affairs Commission prior to her employment at PARS, where she acquired experience in prevention of crime, alcohol abuse, and substance abuse. In her other role as a Leadership developer, Irene played a key role in the creation of the Latino Leadership Collaborative of Kansas, based in Topeka. As a member of the KLC team, Irene coaches in both English and Spanish. She also teaches in Avanzando Juntos, KLC’s Spanish-language leadership development program.

Irene takes great satisfaction in creating space for inspiration and connection. “Ser bilingüe y bicultural me da la oportunidad de tener una perspectiva más clara de algunos dilemas, metas y sueños que perseguimos para nuestras comunidades, disfruto mucho poner mi granito de arena en asuntos relacionados con estos tópicos,” dice Irene.

Irene is dedicated to her family, including three kids, five grandchildren, and a large, extended family throughout the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

Madi Thimmesch, Communication & Education Specialist

mthimmesch@parstopeka.org

Madi Thimmesch joined the PARS team in May 2021 as the Communication & Education Specialist. She is actively engaged in the substance misuse prevention and crime prevention efforts for PARS, with an active role in the Safe Streets Coalition and Substance Abuse (Misuse) Prevention Task Force. Madi works closely with other team members on effective communication and marketing strategies for the organization, such as youth and adult education, prevention resources, and evaluation services in our community. 

Madi has her Bachelor of Business Administration with a focus on Marketing & Management from Washburn University. Prior to working at PARS, Madi has worked as a Marketing Specialist for six years in the agricultural technology field and in Project Management for Stormont Vail Health’s Marketing and Communications Department.

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GET TO KNOW US

Meet the Board

Deb Grunst

President
VP IT Applications
Evergy

Pamela Johnson-Betts

Vice-President
Executive Director
Topeka Public Schools Foundation

Neb Cabrilo

Treasurer
Commercial Loan Officer
CoreFirst Bank & Trust

Sandie Bayless

Secretary
Manager, Corporate Security
Evergy

Gary Blitsch

Past President
Retired Owner
Framewoods & Southwind Gallery

Ahjah Alexander

Operations Manager
Target

Brian L. Carver CISSP, CISM

Manager, Information Technology and Services
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas

Bennie Davis

Community Volunteer
Retired, Goodyear Tire Company

Cheri Faunce

Vice-President of Resource Development
Communities in Schools of Mid-America

Angel Romero Sr.

SFC, USA (RET) 

Aaron A. Starr

Financial Advisor 
Edward Jones

Tracey Stratton

Public Relations Manager
Advisors Excel