She’s an Executive Director, a Board-Certified Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner, and has more than 15 years of experience in social service and community and individual mental health treatment. She’s a thought leader, a dedicated mentor, and an advocate. And she is this year’s Albert B. Craig Award winner.

Staunton Farm Foundation is proud to honor Dr. Kathi Elliott, DNP, MSW, PMHNP-BC, RN, Chief Executive Officer of Gwen’s Girls, with this prestigious recognition.

The Albert B. Craig, Jr. Award recognizes people who have challenged society to think in fresh ways about problems and solutions in behavioral health; to forge new paths, whether through uncommon partnerships or new ways of serving people with behavioral health issues; or who have invented a product or process that has alleviated mental illness/addiction.

Dr. Kathi Elliott has accomplished all of that and more.

In August 2015, Dr. Elliott accepted the position of Executive Director at Gwen’s Girls. Their mission is to empower girls and young women to have productive lives through exposure to holistic, gender-specific programs, education, and experiences. Advocacy and giving back to others are values that have been instilled in Dr. Elliott by her mother and founder of Gwen’s Girls, the late Commander Gwen Elliott.

She utilizes her education and training to ensure that the programming and practices at Gwen’s Girls are strength-based, trauma informed, and gender responsive. Gwen’s Girls offers a wide range of school-based, after school, and summer programming, and under Dr. Elliott’s leadership, these programs have a psychoeducational component that considers how trauma, racism, poverty, and sexism have impacted the lives of the girls. The programs are meant to provide a safe space for girls to address behavioral health, develop healthy relationships, and cultivate strategies for leading productive and successful lives.

A visionary leader, Dr. Elliott has positioned Gwen’s Girls as a well-recognized forerunner in the integration of evidence-based clinical prevention and intervention policies and practices that enhance the child and social welfare system. In 2016, Gwen’s Girls contributed to “Inequities Affecting Black Girls in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County,” a report that led to the convening of an annual Equity Summit for Black Girls to address the racial and gender biases that exist within the juvenile justice, health and wellness, child welfare, and education systems. As a result of the summit, Dr. Elliott spearheaded the formation of the Black Girls Equity Alliance (BGEA), a collaboration of more than 75 practitioners, researchers, system administrators, and other stakeholders committed to addressing systemic inequities in the juvenile justice, child welfare, education, and health care systems.

She also established the Gwendolyn J. Elliott Institute (GJEI), to support research, provide training, and serve as a clearinghouse for best practices in evaluating the programs that empower young girls and women.

And her efforts go even further than Gwen’s Girls.

She has a private practice, Comprehensive Behavioral Health Services, LLC., where she provides psychiatric evaluations, medication management, and clinical consultation services. She is employed at the VA Pittsburgh Health Care System outpatient mental health clinic where she provides telemental health sessions to veterans in remote community-based clinics. Her passion for the implementation of evidence-based strategies to impact suicide prevention was reflected in her capstone project: Improving Provider Knowledge on the Management of Suicidal Behavior during Telemental Health Sessions.

Dr. Elliott has served on numerous boards and professional committees throughout her career. In December 2017, Mayor William Peduto appointed her to serve as a commissioner on the newly formed Gender Equity Commission for the City of Pittsburgh and she served a three-year term. She was recently re-elected to serve on the Board of Trustees at Chatham University. And in January 2021, Dr. Elliott was elected to serve on the ACLU of Pennsylvania.

In December 2021, she was selected by City of Pittsburgh Mayor-elect Ed Gainey to co-chair the Community Health and Safety Transition committee for his new administration. And in November 2023, she was selected to serve on the Talent Committee for Allegheny County Executive-elect Sara Innamorato’s transition team.

But among her many accolades, Dr. Elliott is most proud to be the mother of two adult children and a grandmother of a four-year-old granddaughter.

Staunton Farm Foundation is honored to highlight Dr. Kathi Elliott as the embodiment of this important award as she continues to carry on Albert B. Craig’s legacy.