After 36+ years at the helm, Kathy Colbenson to retire from CHRIS 180

For decades, Kathy Colbenson has been helping others navigate traumas in their lives.

Now, Colbenson is having to focus on her own healing journey.

Since Sept. 7, 1987, Colbenson has led CHRIS 180, becoming one of the most influential nonprofit leaders in Georgia.

The organization started out serving children in foster care who had mental health issues due to trauma and then expanded to working with children aging out of foster care. Colbenson helped pioneer a number of “firsts” in the field of mental health among children and adults.

Then tragedy hit home. On Dec. 31, 2022, Pete Colbenson, her husband of 26 years, died unexpectedly in his sleep during a fishing trip in Florida. And on July 31, 2023, her 46-year-old daughter, Shannon Elizabeth Brown, lost her battle against the chronic disease of alcoholism.

During the past 15 months, Colbenson has been sharing her journey of grief and heartbreak in her posts on Facebook — bravely exposing what it feels like to have lost two of the most important people in her life.

“I haven’t had space or time to grieve,” Colbenson said during a recent 90-minute interview. “This organization deserves a leader who has more capacity than I have today. I’m the head of a mental health organization, and this is a trauma. I’m on my own journey of healing.”

When Colbenson joined CHRIS 180, it was six years old and was called Georgia CHARLEE (Children Have All Rights — Legal, Educational, Emotional). She had started her career working as a licensed marriage and family therapist, then worked a couple of years for another organization before gravitating to the nonprofit.

At the time, the nonprofit (now called CHRIS 180) had a $402,000 annual budget, four homes, and was serving fewer than 50 children a year. CHRIS stands for Creativity, Honor, Respect, Integrity, Safety.

“These kids were languishing in foster care,” Colbenson said. “I fell in love with the kids and the work. We were providing trauma-informed care before there was a name for it.”

It was not all smooth sailing.

“In 1988, we were going to go out of business,” Colbenson said. “I wrote 20 letters to business leaders in Atlanta, and Arthur Blank was the only one to respond. I picked him up and Diana — who was married to Blank at the time — in my Ford Escort, and we drove out to a group home in Douglasville. They gave us the $50,000 that got us over the hump.”

It didn’t take long for Colbenson to realize that early intervention is key to strengthening families and keeping children in their own homes rather than in foster care. Early intervention helps prevent incarceration and chronic homelessness. CHRIS 180 also advocated for the acceptance and support of gay children. And it was among the first to provide family reunification services. 

In the last several years CHRIS 180 has had an annual budget of more than $30 million, and has been serving between 14,000 and 18,000 children and adults a year, offering mental health counseling in schools. “We were the first to do that,” she said. “We are in 81 schools.”

Jay Bernath, chair of the CHRIS 180 board and CEO of C&S Wholesale Meats, said Colbenson has built a strong organization.

“Her legacy is the foundation she has built,” Bernath said. “There’s no replacement for someone who has been with an organization for 36 years, going on 37. She has created the legacy that is CHRIS 180, and that will last into the future.”

So, instead of looking for a replacement, CHRIS 180 is seeking a successor. It has engaged Boardwalk Consulting to do a national search for the next CEO.

“We are looking for somebody who is passionate about the mission,” he said. The search committee is “looking for somebody who can take that foundation and move it into the future.”

Julia Houston, CHRIS 180’s immediate past board chair, is chairing the search. She said Colbenson had spoken with her about retiring even before her husband died. 

“We all know what a pivotal role CHRIS 180 plays in the community and that mental health services are more critical than ever,” said Houston, who is chief strategy and marketing officer for Equifax. “We need a leader who will build on the legacy we have established in the community. And we need a collaborative leader with a deep commitment to the mission and the charge to think big.”

Both Bernath and Houston spoke of the organization’s clear mission, a phrase that is recited at every board meeting. Mission: to heal children, strengthen families, and build community.

“Because the organization has such a strong reputation and plays such an important role in the community, I feel we will be able to attract someone great,” Houston said.

Meanwhile, the nonprofit’s CHRIStal Ball on Aug. 17 will honor Colbenson for her leadership, and it is forming plans to commemorate her legacy with a special campaign.

Colbenson, who is in her early 70s, said the timing is right for a new leader, and retirement will give her an opportunity to assess her next chapter.

“I’m not going away,” she said. “I will continue to give back. I want to use my experience to mentor and help build a stronger and more equitable community where all people have access to the help they need to thrive.”

To understand Colbenson, it’s important to know the role her father, D. Perry Ginn Sr., played in her life.

“I was a preacher’s daughter,” she said explaining that’s how her family ended up moving to Gainesville when she was in 8th grade. “My father had a huge influence on my life. My father preached a sermon in 1955 in Kentucky. You can’t discriminate against a people and call yourself a Christian because God loves all people. God’s love is like the sun. It shines on everyone equally.”

Colbenson admitted that she’s been mad at God after losing her husband and her only child. She takes comfort in another one of her late father’s teachings. “God’s big enough to take your anger,” said Colbenson, adding she just recently went back to church for the first time since her daughter’s death.

It’s especially painful for Colbenson, who has spent her life working with people suffering from addiction, to have lost her daughter to alcoholism.

“I couldn’t save my own daughter,” said Colbenson, adding it’s all about access to care. “The state of Georgia is 48th in access to mental health care. I couldn’t get my daughter the care she needed.”

Colbenson will stay on until her successor joins CHRIS 180. Until then, she will continue to make sure the nonprofit has a strong team and is in good financial shape.

Then she plans to focus on her own journey. 

“You learn to live differently,” Colbenson said. “You learn how to cope. You learn how to cope with trauma.”