Recovery and Hope

Woman of The Year

by Patti Ghezzi

October 23, 2007

Beth Finnerty trained for a career in management at a large hospital. Instead, she took an unexpected turn, devoting eighteen years to helping adults with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression. As CEO and President of Skyland Trail, an innovative program sprawled over three campuses and serving more than fi ve hundred clients and family members a year, Finnerty oversees a staff of seventy- fi ve. Since its start 15 years ago, Skyland Trail has served more than 1,100 clients. Since 1999, it has experienced a 142 percent increase in the number of clients served. The center's goal is not just to treat the patients it serves. Skyland Trail also educates the community about mental illness.

"These are adults who just happen to have a brain disorder," Finnerty says. "They can live a normal life."

Clients arrive unable to take care of themselves. Many feel they have disappointed their families, and that there is no place for them in society. At Skyland Trail, clients fi rst get their medication stabilized and start intensive therapy. Then they learn to cook healthy meals, hold down jobs, and open a checking account.

"What our clients want is a safe place to live, friends, and a job," Finnerty says. "That's what we're all about at Skyland Trail: recovery and hope."

Finnerty, an Iowa City native, got interested in healthcare while a high school student in Athens. She had a job escorting patients to various departments throughout Athens Regional Hospital. After graduating from Davidson College, she pursued an MBA and a masters of Health Administration at Georgia State. She was Gwinnett Hospital System's fi rst administrative resident, where she learned all aspects of hospital management. She was later hired as an assistant administrator, working in marketing, long-range planning, research, and development. Gwinnett was one of the fastest-growing counties in the country, and Finnerty was in the county's healthcare hub. "I really cut my teeth at Gwinnett Hospital System," Finnerty says. Then, a small, new nonprofi t organization came calling. The West family of West Lumber had started a program for people with mental illnesses in honor of a family friend. Skyland Trail grew out of the George West Mental Health Foundation, which was founded seven years earlier. Skyland Trail was only three months old and needed an executive director.

A board member asked a professor at Georgia State for the best and brightest graduate in hospital administration. The professor had just one name: Beth Finnerty.

"That's how we found Beth," recalls Mark West,Skyland's chairman of the board. A more conventional choice would have been a mental health professional, but West and other board members wanted a generalist who could manage all aspects of the organization, he adds. Finnerty was only twenty-nine. The opportunity was unlike any she had envisioned for her future.

"I just remember asking a friend if they thought I could be an executive director, and they said, ‘I think you can do anything you put your mind to,' " she says. "What I saw was an opportunity to get in on the ground floor and make it a resource for the community." West never regretted the board's choice. "She's like a great wine," he says of Finnerty. "She just gets better with time."

When Finnerty arrived, Skyland Trail was like a "one room schoolhouse." It operated in a rehabilitated apartment complex with four clients and a small staff. Clients were referred from in-patient hospitals to the unlocked, voluntary residential program. They shared a desire to make changes in their lives so they could rejoin the community.

As demand for services grew, Skyland Trail gobbled up nearby property. In 1995, Finnerty led the organization's fi rst capital campaign. Twelve million dollars and four years later, Skyland Trail added a day treatment center on a 4.5-acre property on North Druid Hills Road.

Still, Skyland Trail needed more room. The residential program had a waiting list. In 2000, another capital campaign, this one for $1.5 million, allowed the organization to acquire a third campus. The south campus is home to the most acute patients and has a 24-hour staff.

Skyland Trail earned statewide, regional, and national recognition. In 2004, the American Psychiatric Association bestowed on the organization the Gold Award. Other awards under Finnerty's leadership included the Johnson & Johnson/Rosalynn Carter Caregiver Award and the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta's Managing for Excellence Award.

Over time, Finnerty, once the generalist, became an expert in mental health issues as well as a passionate advocate. "I have learned an awful lot thanks to a great clinical team," she says.

When networking in the community, she tells people that mental illness strikes one in four women, one in eight men and one in five families. Every year, some 30,000 deaths nationally are attributed to suicide.

"Mental illnesses are real medical illnesses," she says. "It's pervasive; it has an impact on us."

Still, mental illness is not the easiest cause to sell. Though public perception has improved in recent years, conditions such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are often misunderstood. Finnerty reaches out to private foundations, individual donors, and corporations.

"During my tenure, particularly the last ten years, the Atlanta community has been very supportive of what we're doing," she says. "They believe a dollar donated here is a dollar well spent."

The next growth phase for Skyland Trail involves expanding services as well as adding more space and developing an endowment. The $11.5 million capital campaign began in 2005 and is on the home stretch with more than $9 million raised.

Once again, Skyland Trail is running out of room to house its ever-growing menu of services. Skyland Trail is a pioneer in offering primary care on site. Many clients have health problems caused by side effects from medication and the sedentary lifestyle they led before seeking treatment. Before, clients would be referred to an off-site doctor who often lacked a deep understanding of mental health issues. Now, they are assured a primary-care doctor with mental health experience. Skyland Trail is expanding vocational services. "This is where the rubber meets the road," Finnerty says. "To live independently, you need income."

Finally, Finnerty is leading Skyland Trail in a process of measuring outcomes. "The mental health fi eld has long been cited for not measuring success," she says. "Our outcomes initiative is to look at best practices and treatment and measure what works and what doesn't." A few years ago, Finnerty's title was changed from executive director to president and CEO, a more fi tting title to refl ect the organization's business model. Finnerty sees continued growth and greater national prominence in Skyland Trail's future. She has no plans to leave the helm.

"It's been a real fun ride, creative and forward thinking," she says. "I see Skyland Trail soaring to bigger and better heights, and I want to be here with them."