Our people: Mental health pro writes a lot

Justin Nutt is founder and chief executive officer of Nurstead Mental Health & Consulting Services, a behavioral health training and provider agency.

He is easy to spot as it seems he is always wearing a florid Hawaiian-style shirt.

"I have 118 of them," Nutt said.

Nutt shared a bit of his life with The News:

Q: Where were you born? Tell us about that place.

A: I was born actually in Kansas City, Mo., but I don't claim that, because I grew up in Olathe, Kan.

I spent a lot of time in lots of little towns around Kansas.

Q: Where have you been in your life?

A: I started in private practice in 2012 and left it in 2017, moving from Kansas to El Paso to work at Fort Bliss. They sent me a job offer.

Shortly after that I stopped working for the military to work in other capacities.

After that I briefly worked for NASA in El Paso. I then had a job that sent me to Germany.

Between April 2018 and July 2019 I traveled over 100,000 miles through seven countries and nine states in my work for Nurstead.

Q: Were you in the military?

A: My ancestors were, not me.

Q: What brought you to Clovis?

A: I skirted Clovis when I went to El Paso. I liked the people.

I was offered a job at Mental Health Resources and arrived here in August 2019.

Q: Tell us about your family.

A: Growing up, it was like being around my cousins, second cousins, aunts, uncles.

My mom and sister are back in Kansas.

But my travels made my family grow with the people I've met.

My blood family grew smaller and grew with the people I've met.

I have a wife and daughter.

Q: What did you want to be when you grew up?

A: I've been a Trekkie since I was a little kid. So I wanted to join the military, become an aerospace engineer and an astronaut.

Q: What exactly is your career?

A: There's three pieces to it: I do training in behavioral health, leadership and organizational culture for law enforcement, military and behavioral health professionals.

Also, day to day, honestly, I just push papers. I'm in administration and all that.

I'm also on Nurstead's Mobile Crisis Team, working with people in crisis.

Q: Why did you choose this field?

A: I got into social work when a friend of mine's niece had been sexually assaulted, and I saw how the child protective services in Missouri was messed up.

Instead of trying to help her it was more like an interrogation.

I thought I would like to work in the foster care system but later I went into private practice.

Q: You are founder and CEO of Nurstead. What is the meaning of this name? What does Nurstead offer?

A: Starting as a consulting business, Nurstead means "Nutt's place." It's a section in southern England. Our logo is actually the top of our family crest.

Q: If someone finds themselves at a very, very low point in their life, do you have any particular thought or thoughts that might change their direction?

A: Most of the things that we're feeling are based on things people have told us and we kind of buy into that.

And so, a lot of it is looking at people around you now, and if they see value in you, and you value them, sometimes it just helps to understand that they're right.

Q: What do you do when you're not working?

A: I watch a lot of movies.

I love special effects.

Two years ago I had a conversation with a friend of mine and she said, "I let my daughter watch this show."

I told her I watched about 800 movies a year. She didn't believe me so I started tracking what I watched.

I think in 365 days I had watched about 730 movies.

One morning I remember I watched "Rocky" 1, 2, 3, & 4 before 7:30 in the morning.

Q: Tell us something about yourself few people know.

A: I write a lot. I've written 10 published books; treatment manuals, one on changing patterns in unhealthy relationships and children's books.

I can't do punctuation, so I don't even write a Facebook post without my wife's help.

Q: What's the best sandwich?

A: Reuben, 100%.

Corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and a good layer of Russian or Thousand Island dressing on Marble rye bread.

I had a really good one at the Do Drop Inn in Portales.

Also at the Courthouse Café there.

My wife even has a recipe for Reuben egg rolls.

Q: What's your favorite kind of food?

A: That's a hard one.

I was a chef before I became a therapist.

I don't know that I have a favorite type of food per se but I like being creative.

Q: Where do you like to go on vacation?

A: Europe, Hawaii, the West Coast, Cloudcroft. I really like exploring.

I haven't been to Australia, Southeast Asia or the Amazon. I'd like to go.

Q: If you were given an afternoon to talk to someone from your life, from history or the world, who would it be and what would you talk about?

A: It would probably be my dad.

Growing up, he was my hero.

I did everything he did.

Toward the end of his life we had an argument. It was just a disagreement, but we stopped talking to each other after that.

I'd work to resolve that and talk about hunting, fishing, all the junk we did when I was little.

And introduce him to his granddaughter. He died when she was just 9 months old.

Q: What is your favorite saying or quote?

A: It's from Henry Ford, he said, "Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently."