2018 ANNUAL REPORT MOVING FORWARD ON THE PATH TO WELLNESS 30 ON THE COVER: Skyland Trail graduate Katie S. Read her story on page 5. Together we’re making a difference, one life at a time. We give clients the care, skills and support they programs we’ve launched, the expert team we’ve year when the Glenn Family Wellness Clinic earned need to move forward on the path to recovery. As an assembled, the safe and supportive community we’ve Behavioral Health Home Certification. important member of our healing community, you are created, and the lives we have changed. Looking a part of their journeys every step of the way. forward, we are incredibly excited about what’s next. And we improved health and wellness for our clients and our entire community by becoming a 100% You are also an important part of our journey as a We began construction on the J. Rex Fuqua Campus in nicotine-free campus in November. nationally recognized mental health treatment orga- 2018 and, despite a rainy winter, are making strides nization. This year, we celebrate our 30th anniversary. toward opening a new residential program for adoles- Our ability to move Skyland Trail forward to be Looking back, we are proud of the innovative cents ages 14 to 17 in fall 2019. positioned to provide the best mental health care in a changing world depends on your support. Your Also in 2018, as the program for teens began gifts ensure that we have the right combination of to take shape, we continued to grow expertise and resources to keep our clients moving our programs for adults. We doubled the forward on the path to wellness. Thank you for number of clients served at our Rollins helping us make a difference, one life at a time. LOOKING BACK, we are proud of the innovative Campus for young adults and provided programs we’ve launched, the expert team we’ve education and peer support to more assembled, the safe and supportive community families than ever before. we’ve created, and the lives we have changed. Our leading-edge work over many years to Elizabeth E. Finnerty, MBA, MHA, integrate psychiatric care with preventive President & CEO 30 medical care and wellness services was recognized by The Joint Commission this 1 Year in Review 2018 Skyland Trail continues to tailor our treatment programs and educational outreach to meet the needs of the community and advance the understanding of mental health treatment. In 2018, we achieved key goals focused on promoting whole-person, integrated health, so that our clients have the education, treatment and care they need to heal, recover and thrive. TREATMENT SERVICES PROGRAM EXPANSION • The number of young adult clients served at the Rollins Campus • In March 2018, we officially broke ground on increased by 20% in 2018. the J. Rex Fuqua Campus, the future home of the adolescent residential treatment • After the first full year of offering transcranial magnetic stimulation program for teens ages 14 to 17. The campus (TMS) treatment for treatment-resistant depression, we saw growth in and program are beginning to take shape, the number of clients treated and significant clinical improvements in thanks to overwhelming philanthropic symptoms for those treated. support committed through the Building • The Glenn Family Wellness Clinic earned Behavioral Health Home Resilience Changing Lives capital campaign. The Certification from The Joint Commission, which designates Skyland campus is scheduled to open in fall 2019. Trail as an exceptional provider of integrated psychiatric and general medical healthcare. • All campuses became nicotine-free as of November 15, 2018, ensuring a healthier environment for our clients and staff and protecting our clients from potentially fatal health risks associated with smoking, vaping, and nicotine use. • Participation in our Family STEP program, offered free-of-charge to our families and made possible through charitable donations, increased 17 percent in 2018. +17% 2 2018 CLIENT COMMUNITY Primary Diagnosis Co-occurring Diagnoses 30 50% Major Depression 70% three or more diagnoses 19% Bipolar Illness at discharge 12% Anxiety 30% less than three diagnoses at discharge 10% Psychotic disorders Celebrating 30 Years of Offering Hope 9% Other and Changing Lives We opened our doors in 1989, serving just four clients at a single campus. Since then, we’ve served more than Age at Admission Gender 4,000 clients and their families and are preparing to 67% Ages 18-25 55% Female open our fifth campus in fall 2019. 15% Ages 26-35 44% Male 8% Ages 36-45 < 1% Gender neutral Over the last 30 years, through the leadership of 7% Ages 46-55 or non-binary visionary philanthropists and expert clinical 3% Ages 55+ professionals, Skyland Trail has established a national model for integrated, respectful, effective mental health treatment. We began by helping older adults with psychosis learn independent living skills. Over time, we EDUCATION expanded our programs to include services for adults • Presentations to Atlanta area schools and with depression, bipolar disorder and anxiety civic groups reached more than 1,048 parents, disorders. In the last five years, our programs and students, and community leaders. facilities have grown to meet the needs of young 1,048 adults with mood and anxiety disorders. With the • Six continuing education workshops held opening of the J. Rex Fuqua Campus for adolescents % at Skyland Trail in 2018 engaged 353 Atlanta this fall, Skyland Trail will offer a path to mental 69 mental health professionals (an increase of wellness and a better life for teens and adults ages 69% from 2017). 14 and older. • Skyland Trail experts made presentations at We are grateful to all of our donors for being an six national conferences, sharing best prac- important part of our growth and an invaluable part tices and raising awareness among 1,175 of our future. professionals from around the country. 3 Treatment Outcomes In 2018, measured outcomes confirm that our evidence-based psychiatric care, together with our holistic path to wellness, is effective.Simply put, our clients get better. 88% 85% 90% 81% of all patients experienced of all patients experienced of patients leave treatment of patients with psychosis a statistically significant a statistically significant with a positive attitude experienced statistically improvement in functionality, improvement in hope 2 about taking psychiatric significant improvement in symptoms and social medication 3 their symptoms of psychosis 4 relationships 1 “Objective measurement % % % tools allow clients and their 92 100 88 treatment teams to gauge progress in moving forward toward recovery and adjust course to address barriers of patients with very severe of patients who had clinically of patients with anxiety to progress when needed.” and severe symptoms of meaningful episodes of mania experienced statistically – depression experienced showed no symptoms of significant improvement Raymond J. Kotwicki, clinically significant clinically meaningful mania in control of anxiety7 Charles B. West Chief reduction 5 at discharge 6 Medical Officer All measures are statistically significant at p=0.001. 4 Overall JE, Gorham DR. The Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale. Psychological Reports. 1962; 10:799-812. 1 The 32-item Behavior and Symptom Identification Scale (BASIS-32): ©McLean University, Affiliate of 5 Montgomery, S.A. & Åsberg, M. (1979). A new depression scale designed to be sensitive to change. Harvard Medical School. British Journal of Psychiatry, 134, 382-389. 2 Beck Hopelessness Scale: Beck AT, Weissman A, Lester D, Trexler L. (1074). The measurement of 6 Young RC, Biggs JT, Ziegler VE, Meyer DA: A rating scale for mania: reliability, validity and sensitivity. pessimism: The Hopelessness Scale. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 42(6), 861-865. British Journal of Psychiatry, 133:429-435, 1978. 3 Medication Attitude Inventory: Hogan TP, Awad AG, & Eastwood R. (1983). A self-report scale 7 Hamilton M: The assessment of anxiety states by rating. British Journal of Medical Psychology, predictive of drug compliance in schizophrenics: reliability and discriminative validity. Psychological 32:50-55,1959. 4 Medicine, 13, 177-183. An Orchid Who Survived the Storm Katie’s Story All my life, I have felt like an orchid of love and as though I was such an self-harming. The last attempt happened in a field of daisies. The daisies were inconvenience to my family and friends, on my first day of college. tougher, more capable of holding their that I deserved consistent punishment My parents saw the pain I was own when a windstorm rolled through. for something that I could not control. experiencing, and we started looking As a child, I had outbursts of anger and My beautiful petals began to fall and sink for a treatment program that specializes aggression. Mood swings. One second into the dirt beneath me. in Dialectical Behavior Therapy designed I felt like the happiest girl in the world One night, sitting on the edge of for people suffering with BPD. Skyland and the next, the most miserable person a bridge, staring at huge, sharp rocks Trail was a perfect fit. ever. I was also a perfectionist, an over- beneath me, I thought, “I deserve that achiever, scoring highest in the class. kind of punishment.” I asked God, “If you I felt so disappointed and angry when are really there God, this is your last SKYLAND TRAIL GENUINELY I wasn’t perfect, that it caused me to chance to save me.” CHANGED MY LIFE. TODAY, I feel extremely excited to explore the isolate, avoid, and procrastinate. My An angel showed up. Bright lights hit I DON’T ONLY WANT TO path God has laid out in front of me. biggest fear was losing someone I loved my back as a man in uniform told me this He placed many people at Skyland Trail or being abandoned by someone who was was not the end, that there was more to SURVIVE, I WANT TO LIVE A LIFE WORTH LIVING.