We hope you’ll be able to join us Friday, May 13th for our first ever Southern Shindig! What’s the Southern Shindig–it’s a night of music, food and fun at Chastain Park supporting all the great things we do at Skyland Trail.

For more information:call or email Ashley Vance: avance@skylandtrail.org or 678-686-5905 or go to http://www.skylandtrail.org/special-event/southern-shindig to buy tickets.

Honorary Chairs Helen and John Gordon (left) with Event Chairs Denise and Jay Mitchell

We are thrilled to announce the volunteer leadership for its 2011 Benefits of Laughter gala, to be held November 10^th at the St. Regis Atlanta.

Skyland Trail Board Member Jay Mitchell and his wife Denise will serve as chairs for the fundraising event. Mr. Mitchell is the Executive Vice President and General Counsel for Piedmont Healthcare, Inc., where he is responsible for all legal affairs of the non-profit four hospital system in the greater Atlanta area, including flagship Piedmont Hospital. Mrs. Mitchell has been involved with the Westminster, Lovett and W.T. Jackson Schools in many different capacities. She has also served on various committees at the Cathedral of Christ the King.

The Honorary Chairs for Benefits of Laughter 2011 are community leaders and long-time friends of Skyland Trail, John and Helen Gordon. Mr. Gordon is a member of the Board of Directors and chairs Skyland Trail’s Marketing and Education Committee. He is the owner and president of Gordon Document Products, Inc., and the founder and managing partner for Perfect Circle Energy Solutions, LLC.  Mrs. Gordon attended The Westminster Schools and has been a past fundraiser for the alumni association. She is also a past board member of The Forward Arts Foundation and has chaired their flea market event and fashion show. 

Comedy entertainment for the 14^th Annual Benefits of Laughter will be provided by Southern icons Vince and Barbara Dooley, who are guaranteed to bring laughter with their tales of Georgia football and beyond. 

Event entertainment: Vince and Barbara Dooley

Since 1998, this ‘Seriously Funny Night’ has helped Skyland Trail clients recover from mental illness, as all proceeds from the event benefit the Financial Aid Fund. For more information about sponsorship, or to reserve a table, please contact Ashley Vance at 678.686.5905 or at avance@skylandtrail.org. 

We hope you’ll be able to join us November 10th!

Sincerely,
Beth Finnerty

President/CEO

There is no doubt that we hit the ground running at the start of 2011. As soon as we completed a very successful 2010, we challenged ourselves to improve for the future and, one month into this new year, I can say there are a lot of big things underway here at Skyland Trail.  Our dedication and our commitment to clients, their families and the community remains constant. But we’re looking for ways we can expand who we serve and touch even more lives with our message of hope.

Last week, Skyland Trail’s Board of Directors gave the green light to our next Strategic Plan, laying the groundwork for major initiatives starting this year. It updates our mission and our vision to reflect our new direction and our new, expanded reach. Our planning team worked hard to create a framework that will allow us to grow and expand, but still maintain the strong community focus that has made us a recognizable force for mental health treatment.

I’m pleased to share with you our new vision: To lead innovative psychiatric treatment in America.

And with this new focus, our mission that will lead us through the next Strategic Planning process: Skyland Trail inspires people with mental illness to thrive through a holistic program of evidence-based psychiatric treatment, integrated medical care, research and education.

This is Skyland Trail’s fifth strategic plan in the 22 years of our organization’s history. We have always been bold in laying forth our goals, and with each new plan, we have successfully achieved every objective—always with our vision and mission as our defining guide.. As we lay the groundwork for the 2011-2015 Strategic Plan, we will no doubt make our mark with a vision and mission that allow us to enhance our services and expand our reach.

I look forward to updating you soon about our plans and our progress.

Sincerely,
Beth Finnerty

President/CEO

Last Saturday’s shootings in Arizona bring our attention to the accused shooter, Jared Loughner, and reports that he may have displayed symptoms of mental illness. There are reports of him interacting with the police, but no reports of him receiving any mental health treatment.

I’d like to point out a fabulous article that appeared this week in The Huffington Post. It’s written by a former Skyland Trail client Melody M. and eloquently speaks to the need for accessible mental health care in our communities.
You can link to the article here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/melody-moezzi/enough-with-insane-mental_b_807084.html 

And I’ll paste it below.

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At 14, I joined my high school speech and debate team. Ever since, I’ve been hooked on public speaking. Put me in front of a bunch of strangers, the more the better, and I thrive. I don’t need to imagine people in their underwear. All I need is my voice and occasionally, a microphone.

So, you can imagine how bizarre it was for me when I recently found myself feeling nervous in front of an audience of only a few dozen people. I’d been invited to speak at an alumni event, which would have been fine were it for high school, college, law school or even kindergarten. But it wasn’t. It was for Skyland Trail, a psychiatric day treatment program I’d attended two years earlier, after being hospitalized for my first acute manic episode.

Most of the lectures I give at universities are about one of two topics you’re never supposed to bring up in polite conversation: politics or religion — and quite frequently, both. Talking about such issues has never made me the least bit uncomfortable. But talking about my psychotic break was terrifying.

My mouth got dry. My palms grew sweaty. My heart pounded. Still, I managed to share my story — granted, in a much less self-assured tone than usual. Talking religion and politics is cake compared to rehashing my mania, depression and psychosis. For one, no matter how heated things get, I never break down in tears discussing Islamophobia or foreign policy. But there, I lost it. Twice, I had to take a long pause.

Still, the audience of patients, staff, family members and other alumni was warm and encouraging — some even said “it’s okay” when I had to stop. These people knew where I was coming from; they were willing to wait for me to pull myself together, and they encouraged me to move on.

That is precisely what community-based mental health facilities are meant to do. To recognize where those of us with mental illnesses are coming from, to give us the time and space we need to get well, and to encourage us to meet our potential — which incidentally, can often exceed that of so-called “normal” people.

But these aren’t the kinds of facilities people want in their backyards — that is, until they need them. Assumptions about the mentally ill abound: that we’re violent, that we can’t be trusted around children, that we can’t be trusted full stop. The truth is, though, that we are more likely to be victims of violent crime than we are to be violent criminals, and with proper treatment, many of us can and do lead fruitful and productive lives.

Yet today, that kind of treatment is becoming less and less available. Arizona alone has made $65 million in behavioral health cuts in the past two years, affecting roughly 28,000 state residents — which may well have included the young man charged with the recent shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and over a dozen others at a Tucson Safeway supermarket. And although this man is by no means representative and his story feeds all kinds of false stereotypes about the mentally ill, I still can’t help but hope that this tragedy will spark a necessary debate and benefit those of us who genuinely need access to mental health care and are by and large not criminals.

As mental health programs and facilities across the country lose funding, people like me, who desperately need them, are left with few options. Due to such cuts, patients end up having access to only acute facilities and mental hospitals, which are much more expensive and traumatizing than the community-based programs that are most vulnerable to budget cuts today. The counselors at these programs do more than throw drugs at us and send us home. They teach us vital skills to function, contribute and thrive in society.

Without them, I could easily be sitting on a back ward somewhere eating Jell-O and complaining about missing puzzle pieces. Without them — and I say this with no exaggeration — I could just as easily be dead. Without them, society risks losing countless caring and competent mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and children. De-funding community-based mental health programs and providers is simply not a risk that we can afford to take.

 —–

Many thanks to Melody for her commitment to her health, to the health of the community, and also to Skyland Trail.

Sincerely,

Beth Finnerty

President/CEO