Skyland Trail: Paving the road to recovery from mental illnesses
Oct 09, 2018 12:00 PM
Beth Finnerty, CEO & Dr. Ray Kotwicki, CMO
Skyland Trail: Paving the road to recovery from mental illnesses

As the founding executive director, and now president and CEO, Beth Finnerty has helped Skyland Trail grow from a start-up nonprofit serving four clients to a nationally recognized psychiatric treatment organization serving hundreds of clients and their families each year.

Finnerty has developed and implemented four strategic plans, the completion of four capital campaigns totaling more than $48 million, and the development and construction of new treatment facilities across four campuses. She also has overseen expansion of clinical services and programs. A leader in the field of recovery-focused psychiatric treatment, Skyland Trail offers innovative programs including integrated primary care  and wellness counseling, vocational services, interfaith pastoral counseling, cognitive remediation therapy, comprehensive psychiatric assessment and adjunctive therapies such as art, music and horticultural therapy.

The American Psychiatric Association recognized Skyland Trail with the Gold Award in 2004 and a special presidential commendation in 2014. They also received the Rosalynn Carter/Johnson & Johnson Caregiver Award, the Managing for Excellence Award from the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, the 11-Alive Community Service Award, and the Georgia Center for Nonprofits Revolutions Award.

Finnerty received her bachelor’s from Davidson College and a dual master’s in  business and healthcare administration from GSU.  She serves on numerous boards and advisory committees.  She is a Diplomate in the American College of Healthcare Executives and is a 2006 graduate of Leadership Georgia and a 2009 graduate of Leadership Atlanta. Finnerty was a Woman of the Year honoree in 2007 by Atlanta Woman magazine and received the 2006 Leadership Award from the Georgia Psychiatric Physician’s Association. In 2014, she was selected as a YWCA Woman of Achievement and was recognized with a Womenetics POW! Award.

Dr. Ray Kotwicki is the Charles B. West Chief Medical Officer at Skyland Trail.   He oversees all the clinical, educational, quality, and research activities within the organization.  He trained as a Department of Energy Fellow and was a Medical Scholar at the University of Wisconsin Medical School.  He had post-graduate training at Harvard Medical School, the Boston University School of Medicine, and Emory, where he earned a Master’s in Public. He remains on the adjunctive faculty at both the Emory School of Medicine as well as the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

Kotwicki has presented more than 200 invited lectures, symposia, and seminars to thousands of attendees. He regularly appears on television, radio and in newspaper articles discussing issues related to mental health and integrated medical care.  He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and is President of the Georgia Psychiatric Physicians’ Association, member of the Leadership Atlanta Class of 2011 and served as President of the Board of Directors of Positive Impact, the Southeast’s premiere HIV mental health program for three years. He has received numerous distinctions, including Emory University’s most prestigious Dean’s “Golden Apple” Teaching Award and the Rollins School of Public  Health at Emory University’s “Distinguished Achievement Alumnus Award” in 2017.

Visit:  www.skylandtrail.org

INTRODUCTION: Jackie Montag
INVOCATION: Jim Schulz