An innovative award winner
Karen Bennett, executive director of the Greene County Human Services Department since 2000, has received a prestigious award for innovation in behavioral health, and our first reaction is no one is more deserving.
The award came through the Pittsburgh-based Staunton Farm Foundation, a family foundation established in 1937 in accordance with the wishes of Matilda Staunton Craig, a philanthropist who wanted her estate to be used to benefit the mentally ill.
For Bennett to be recognized for her work in mental health and mental retardation is noteworthy considering her department deals with a host of other issues, something we learned earlier this year when we published our first installment in a series on homelessness in Washington and Greene counties.
Bennett and her dedicated staff address homelessness with energy and compassion. But their efforts, as officials in other counties have almost certainly found, have been thwarted by reduced funding on both the state and federal levels. They should be lauded for recognizing that mental health issues are one of the primary causes of homelessness and attacking those issues could make a difference.
Perhaps Staunton Farm’s Foundation President Rob Ferree said it best when he presented Bennett with the 2013 Albert B. Craig Jr. Award. He explained that “Karen’s leadership and creativity have been invaluable. Greene County has an integrated model of human services, in that all departments are managed under one umbrella. Their model allows for the most effective streamlining of human services, with centralized management, communication and location. She has always put the consumer’s interest at the forefront and is an advocate on both the local and state levels. It is a privilege to be associated with Karen and her tremendous work.”
It should be noted the purpose of the Albert B. Craig, Jr. Award is to recognize people who have challenged society to think in fresh ways about problems and solutions in mental health, to forge new paths, whether through uncommon partnerships or new ways of serving people with mental illnesses, or who have invented a product or process that has alleviated mental illness.
We always have known that the director of a human services agency wears many hats. Departments under her supervision include, among others, children and youth and drug and alcohol.
So, we tip our hat to Bennett for doing a good job, yet know quite well her job is far from done.