Millennium Magazine_2ndEd

A Marquis Who's Who Magazine 357 M ental health refers to a person’s emotional, psychological and social well-being. It affects how a person thinks, feels and acts, and determines how they handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Professionals like Dr. Randy C. Stith are pivotal in helping those with mental illnesses and disorders cope with their conditions. In college, Dr. Stith knew what he wanted to do for a living, which led him to earn a PhD in clinical psychology from Saint Louis University in 1972. He has maintained a career of more than 50 years with a focus on children’s and family health, serving for 40 years as the chief executive officer of the Aurora Mental Health Center, an integrated health care and trauma-informed care community located in Colorado. He was also a psychologist for St. Louis State Hospital and a deputy director of Weld County Mental Health from 1971 to 1978. Dr. Stith was living in the area where the 2012 Aurora theater shooting took place and made responding to the community and families his primary responsibility. He is mostly proud of how the community and his staff pulled together to cope with this tragedy. His greatest achievement to date is expanding the Aurora Mental Health Center into a comprehensive family service system with 19 facilities and 500 employees under his watch. It is now the largest child service system in the Rocky Mountains. As a provider, Dr. Stith is able to be effective without having children experiencing mental health issues taken out of their homes or put in hospitals. His work in the field has not gone unnoticed, as he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Council for Behavioral Health in 2003. He was also featured in Who’s Who in America in 2018. RANDY C. STITH, PHD CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Aurora Mental Health Center Aurora, CO