DEL.ICIO.USHead of Georgia’s mental health agency resigns
State leader dealt with underfunding
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
The head of Georgia’s embattled mental health agency on Wednesday announced she will leave the post, having weathered years of underfunding, severe federal reports and community criticism that her agency is in crisis.
Gwen Skinner took the helm of the state Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Addictive Diseases in 2004.
Vasna Wilson/2004 AJC file photo
Gwen Skinner ‘did an honorable job,’ a mental health advocate said.
• A Hidden Shame: Death in Georgia's mental hospitals
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She has worked a total of three decades in Georgia’s juvenile justice, mental health and child welfare systems.
She will retire in the fall of 2009, according to a statement released Wednesday. Skinner was unavailable for comment.
Investigations by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution have concluded that abuse, neglect and shoddy medical care contributed to the deaths of 136 patients within the state system from 2002 through 2007.
In May, the U.S. Justice Department cited an “unabated” failure to address dangerous conditions in state mental hospitals that have caused preventable deaths, injuries and illnesses.
In August, Gov. Sonny Perdue announced a sweeping reorganization of state social services, a plan that would include a new agency dedicated to mental health care.
The division is now under the state Department of Human Resources. He said he will ask the state Legislature to approve the reorganization this year.
Despite the problems with Skinner’s agency, she remained well-regarded by some mental health advocates.
“I think Gwen Skinner is a person who has done an honorable job under horrific circumstances,” said Sherry Jenkins Tucker, executive director of the Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network. “The budget shortfalls [to the agency] have been difficult.”
DHR Commissioner B.J. Walker praised Skinner, saying, “Gwen has worked tirelessly during her time at DHR to strengthen our mental health system, and increase community-based services and support Georgia’s adults and adolescents.”
In 2006, Skinner launched a statewide, toll-free access number that connects people to mental health, developmental disabilities and substance abuse services.
She also worked to forge a partnership with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the National Alliance on Mental Illness to train Georgia’s frontline law enforcement officers in crisis intervention with people with mental illness.
