Guest Speaker - Ann Fisher Raney - June 17, 2014 Meeting
Posted by Al Anile
Pictured above are Ann Fisher Raney from Turning Point and Skokie Valley Club Rotary member John Haben.
Ann Fisher Raney was the Guest Speaker at the Skokie Valley Rotary Club luncheon meeting of June 17, 2014. Her subject was on people's daily mindfulness.
During her career, Ann has pursued many opportunities to use her skill and her passion to improve the lives of people with mental illness. For nearly 20 years, she has been a leader at Turning Point, serving the past thirteen years as its Chief Executive Officer. During her tenure at Turning Point, the agency has established a reputation in the community for providing excellent quality mental health services, regardless of one’s ability to pay.
Under her direction, the agency initiated a Building Resilience campaign in 2010 that encouraged all staff to participate in creating the solutions that allowed the agency to successfully weather the financial storms of the past few years and to emerge as both one of the most agile and one of the most stable community mental health centers in the state.
In 2012, Turning Point received a grant of $1.2 M to purchase additional space. The additional 16,400 square feet will allow the agency to expand its services and to collaborate with agencies in order to offer primary health care and advocacy efforts. This grant has made possible Ann’s vision of a one stop center which offers expanded quality mental health services at a cost-effective price.
Before Turning Point, Ann worked for ten years as a Child and Adolescent therapist, and then Program Director, at the Fillmore Center, a community mental health agency that serves residents of Cicero, Berwyn, Oak Park and River Forest. During this time, Ann established a private psychotherapy practice as a licensed clinical social worker in Hyde Park, which she continues today.
Ann has served as a leadership consultant to the Bush Foundation in St. Paul for the past five years, and defines her leadership style as one of “reflective practice,” recognizing that we all are leaders and that good leadership is something that requires practice. In 2007, she received the Certificate in Leadership Arts from The University of Chicago Graham School. She is a graduate of the Leadership Evanston Signature Class XVIII and she was an Adjunct Lecturer at The School of Social Service Administration at The University of Chicago from 1994-2012.