Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health Services' (GCBHS) Medical Director, Dr. Katherine (Katie) Schmidt has been selected as a Movers & Makers Magazine Notable in the filed of Addiction and Recovery Services. The magazine's February issue features 12 local "notables" who are helping people struggling with addiction and/or assisting them in their recovery.
Dr. Katie completed her residency in Psychiatry in Milwaukee before returning home to Cincinnati in 2008. She worked for several healthcare organizations including Cincinnati’s VA Medical Center before coming to #GCBHS in 2012. She was promoted to Associate Medical Director in 2015 and became Medical Director in 2021. Dr. Katie oversees the GCBHS Opiate Treatment Program. She provides direct psychiatric care and Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) in an outpatient setting to clients with mental health and substance use disorders.
According to GCBHS' Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Tracey Skale, "Katie has been with our organization for over 10 years and is our go-to expert for all things related to addiction medicine. She oversees teams in Hamilton and Clermont counties who offer various treatments for people struggling with substance use and/or alcohol use disorder."
Dr. Schmidt also teaches medical students and residents from Mercy Hospital, the Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education (part of their National Family Residency Program) and residents from Christ Hospital's UC Family Medicine Residency. She provides lectures on community mental health as well as medication assisted treatment with the goal of exposing them to multiple treatment modalities.
Dr. Katie's patients describe her as "caring" and "empathetic." According to one of our medical assistants, Dr. Schmidt "is amazing at what she does. She is kind and caring; she advocates for her clients and gives them the tools they need to succeed. She treats everyone with respect and she has an abundance of knowledge in the field. She is my go-to person whenever I have a recovery or non- recovery related question."
Another quality that makes Dr. Schmidt so special is that she pays attention not only to the mental health and addiction issues of her patients, but their physical health as well. On more than one occasion Dr. Schmidt has been the person to notice serious health issues that have been overlooked and sent patients to the hospital for immediate treatment.
Heather Cokl is the GCBHS Associate Vice President in Clermont County, "I think Dr. Schmidt is one of the most intelligent people I’ve ever had the pleasure to work alongside. She is always at the forefront of research and national trends that educate us about our populations needs, she is always on deck to help educate staff in any way that helps our professionals grow, and she is super diligent about watching legal and clinical changes to ensure our clinic is operating at its absolute best for the client experience. She is a gold asset for our staff, our clients, and our communities to benefit from."
Dr. Schmidt has been Board Certified in Psychiatry by American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and in Addiction Medicine by the American Board of Preventative Medicine. She received the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from NAMI in 2017 and she was recognized as Best Addiction Psychiatrist (2021 & 2022) by Cincy Magazine.
When she is away from the office, Dr. Katie likes to garden and bake for her family and friends. She and her husband Jeff are raising three children in Anderson Township. When time permits they like to travel the country and visit national monuments and historical places.
"Notables" is a new regular feature in M & M that highlights people making a difference in the Greater Cincinnati nonprofit community. You can see the full edition of February's Mover & Makers HERE.
