Humans of St. Louis – Keely Finney

Humans of St. Louis February 5, 2023February 6, 2023

As a continuation of the partnership between the St. Louis Regional Health Commission (RHC) and Humans of St. Louis, Keely Finney, Patient Advisory Board member and mental health clinician, shares her experiences in the health care safety net as both a provider and a patient. Read Keely’s story below and click here for additional RHC and Humans of St. Louis stories.

“I was not always granted the opportunity to communicate what my needs were, so I created that opportunity for myself. Advocating is not a problem for me. My voice is what saved me growing up. I have always been boisterous. I have always spoken up for myself and those who couldn’t speak up for themselves from an early age. Now I use that in a different way in my profession. I’ve learned to be more assertive. Because there was a time I was more aggressive. Balance is important. And I have matured and learned how to come to the table more effectively by not operating out of hurt and by extending grace. But I had to choose to heal, gain some knowledge, and use wisdom for that transition to take place.”

Keely Finney, LCSW, Founder of Rejuvenating Comprehensive Services, and St. Louis Regional Health Commission Patient Advisory Board Member

Story 1

“I grew up in St. Louis, in a loving household that was also affected by the crack epidemic. I attended St. Louis Public Schools, which was my outlet from home life. Because college did not seem like an option early on, my only goal was to graduate from high school. We moved around a lot, resulting in me attending nine elementary schools. Once I entered middle school, my life changed. That was the start of stability, belief in myself, and the development of higher dreams and expectations. God placed me in an environment that saved my life because my principal saw something in me that I did not see in myself. I was there my entire 6th-grade year, which was a first.

When I moved in with my grandmother at the start of 7th grade, she said to me, ‘You can’t go to this school anymore.’ My principal begged to differ. He told me, ‘Go to your classroom and I’ll talk to your grandmother.’ My grandmother said, ‘If you want her here, you get her here.’ And they did just that. Everyone in the front office — the principal, vice principal, secretary — took turns picking me up and bringing me to Williams Middle School. They were there every morning. Academic success started there. What they did for me changed the entire trajectory of my life. That’s when I knew there was something greater than the hood I was growing up in and bigger dreams were attainable for me.

School staff never inquired about what was going on in my household, they focused solely on me and my ability to be great. From that point, my narrative changed and I excelled. My grades got better. I became a star student and an honor roll student. And that followed me through high school and college. Them seeing something in me that I didn’t, pushed me to work towards being the best version of myself.”

“I decided I wanted to pay it forward. So my purpose in life is to do just what they did for me — help people to not only see greatness within themselves but develop the tools they need to reach self-sufficiency.”

Keely Finney, LCSW, Founder of Rejuvenating Comprehensive Services, and St. Louis Regional Health Commission Patient Advisory Board Member

Story 2

Ms. Jonnie Johnson Day, my supervisor who helped me obtain my social work license, reminded me that she had an office in Ferguson: ‘Come over here and see clients three days a week until you build your clientele up.’ So I did.

When she retired, she allowed me to take over her office. This was the start of something even bigger. I had a village of seven dedicated individuals who would meet with me every Monday evening in that little office and help make my vision a reality. Once we fine-tuned it, it grew as well as my faith. Well, I saw this building next door and thought, ‘I can pay for a couple of months of rent. I’m moving over there.’ I called my dad to ask if he could do some painting for me if I got this building. Once he was on board, I talked to the owners. We agreed to share the responsibility of fixing it up and the mission began. They let me design the place the way I wanted to and I moved in. Since then, I’ve been working to keep this business afloat.”

When I was working for other agencies as a therapist, there were limits on how I could help my clients. I typically went against the grain because I knew, personally and professionally, that if I wanted to be effective at impacting their lives along with therapy, I needed to make sure their basic needs were also met. If life is happening in real-time and I’m trying to provide therapeutic services, clients aren’t focusing on what I’m saying. They’re focusing on, ‘Is my gas gonna get paid? Am I gonna be out on the streets tomorrow?’.

So once I started my own business, I went to STLCC to take the Community Health Workers class and get my certification to tie it all together. I view my clients as the experts and I’m a vessel helping them navigate the systems to get what they need and develop lifelong tools. We have not served anyone younger than 10 unless they were part of family services. But as far as therapeutic services, we see almost all ages.”

Story 3

“My village is so great that I’d probably be here 24 hours a day if I didn’t have them. They’re like, ‘Keely, what do you need? Let’s do this!’ They have a passion too and we work well together. So, Ms. Sandra Bryant, of Heart 2 Heart Christian Life Coaching, is next door and her business feeds into mine. The Community Health Worker Coalition has a hub here. And everyone volunteers to help me out. We have the clientele. We do not have the manpower. But we make it work. The funding is not there right now, but it will be. I’ve been a social worker for almost 25 years. The blessing is that once I left my previous job, the agencies my clients went to then found me for them again. ‘Keely, can we send you your people?’”

“I’d like to see RCS grow into an organization where people can come to a one-stop shop. I’ve been a recipient of social services, so I know how people can be treated. Even now, I don’t send anybody to get resources without me calling first to make a connection. It’s hard enough to ask. But if you get confronted with an attitude or someone telling you that you’re less than, you don’t want to put effort into that. So I make sure I have it to give. Of course, we network, but I want to be able to address as many needs as I can right here.”

Keely Finney, LCSW, Founder of Rejuvenating Comprehensive Services, and St. Louis Regional Health Commission Patient Advisory Board Member

“How does someone get connected with RCS?”

Story 4

He was like, ‘Miss Keely! Guess what? You won’t believe this. I’m driving for Uber!’ He is a man of faith. And he trusted me enough to trust God through his process of getting better. His biggest fear was to go back to being incarcerated. So he wanted to make sure he walked the straight and narrow. And he has to this day.

What surprised me about Stanley was his ability to try no matter how fearful he was. He came to me with a lot of trauma and he was willing to work on it. He heard stories about people taking medicine, but he didn’t want to do that. Instead, I taught him to acknowledge all the ‘little big wins.’ So when he sat down for those three seconds, at first he was like, ‘That’s nothing.’ ‘Yeah, but it’s huge. Because you wouldn’t sit down for one second!’ I would teach him skills to build on and how he could be the person he wanted to be if he could just take the limits off of himself.

Later down the line, he started to have health concerns. But every time something happened in his life, whether he was in the hospital or had something housing-related, he’d pick up the phone and ask, ‘Keely, what do you think about this? What agency can I use for that?’ I wouldn’t say I just supported him. I’d show up for him when he needed it, too. And he hasn’t lost contact since. It’s people like him and many others who remind me every day, this is why I do what I do.”

Story 5

“Losing my job when I did was a blessing I didn’t recognize at the time. I had been disconnected from the community as a therapist when, in fact, I was also a social worker and needed to find a way to bridge the two. That was when I had time to take the community health workers class and it changed my life. That fire for the community came back. And that’s when I first heard about the Regional Health Commission’s Patient Advisory Board. I thought, ‘I can do that.’

My business wasn’t up and running then. I was unemployed. I didn’t have insurance. I really didn’t know how I was gonna make it the day after next. But God blessed my mom and my friend to be cancer-free, so I took the class and it was my lifeline. My faithful ones who come every Monday to meet with me, we talked about how we wanted RSC to work. It evolved. It came to be. And I couldn’t do it without my village.”

“How did you show up for the patient advisory board while still trying to find out what you needed?”

“That connection was important because I had a story about my mom trying to access services and I had some illnesses and other things going on during a time when I didn’t have insurance. So I thought it was important to share what I was going through as a caregiver, patient, and professional.”

“You don’t think about how much you have going on at one time until you say it out loud. It was refreshing to share and have people listen and be willing to make changes. The voice of patients and the community is very important. As providers, we may have an idea of what works. But those in the thick of it really know.”

Keely Finney, LCSW, Founder of Rejuvenating Comprehensive Services, and St. Louis Regional Health Commission Patient Advisory Board Member

Story 6

The pain lasted about a week until it went away. Then it came back in December, worse than the first time. I went back to the ER: ‘We think you’re in a gallbladder crisis, but you have symptoms outside of that, so we can’t do anything.’ ‘Can you figure out what else is going on?’ ‘No. Because since we already started treating you for your gallbladder, you’re going to have to follow up with your primary to have it taken out.’ I wouldn’t have insurance until January. They told me to see what was going on then. When I got health insurance and went to my primary, they were no longer taking that insurance. So I couldn’t keep that appointment and had to find another provider. 

The blessing for me was that I was connected. I made a phone call to ask who takes my insurance and one of the nurses who worked with me at another job said I’d be able to get into the doctor’s office she worked at. They sent me to a specialist. COVID hit. They had to push me back. Nobody could see me until May. I was in pain every day while seeing my own patients.

When I was finally able to be seen, the specialist found an infection. Before I could get gallbladder surgery, I had to get it taken care of. He prescribed five different antibiotics. I took those for a month. I had to wait another month so the next test wouldn’t come back as a false negative. In July, when I went back, he didn’t even remember the meds he gave me. He had his nurse call the pharmacy to find out and then he said, ‘Wow, you took all of those? Nobody ever takes all of those.’ He ended up scheduling my procedure a month out and everything got shut down for COVID again. I finally got my procedure done in August.

“Being underinsured and uninsured, it was like jumping through hoops to figure out what was going on. And I had to figure out ways to navigate the system.”

Keely Finney, LCSW, Founder of Rejuvenating Comprehensive Services, and St. Louis Regional Health Commission Patient Advisory Board Member

“As providers, we look at the presenting problem individuals come in with but not what the underlying issues are. You have to look at the whole person, too. If I come in with this gall bladder issue, but you don’t know I also have an infection… I’m a single mother of a senior in high school and I’m trying to figure out how to make ends meet because I’m building a business and I’m a sole caretaker for my mom… And when you’re that patient, you can’t fold. You continue to walk in strength. You have to keep pushing. Because if you panic, everyone around you does too.”

Keely Finney, LCSW, Founder of Rejuvenating Comprehensive Services, and St. Louis Regional Health Commission Patient Advisory Board Member

Story 7

So we work with clients so they know they can speak up for themselves and get other opinions, if needed. Because the fears of being turned away for speaking up or for not being compliant, those fears are real.”

“How do you speak up in RHC meetings and what’s been crucial to you to drive these points home as you advocate for others?”

“I speak from a client standpoint with provider insight, helping to shine a light on the social determinants of health affecting individuals, families, and our communities. Everyone may not have family support, but your family doesn’t have to be blood.”

“Providers have to show up with a nonjudgmental attitude toward those in need, because they don’t know everything a person is going through. We providers need to listen to hear and not just to respond; to not push our motives on others but understand their overall needs and help get those resolved. Taking that extra step to be up-front and personal makes a difference, too. If I need to accompany someone to a doctor’s appointment, I’m going. If I’m needed to go to court, I’m going. Sometimes we have to be that voice.”

Keely Finney, LCSW, Founder of Rejuvenating Comprehensive Services, and St. Louis Regional Health Commission Patient Advisory Board Member

Story 8

“And the community should be heard because if you’re not walking in our shoes, you don’t really know what we’re facing. I say ‘we’ because, although I am a provider, I am a part of the community. Don’t get me wrong, there are amazing organizations and passionate people willing to help. However, people can be very judgmental when individuals are seeking help. Labels like, ‘The angry Black woman,’ or ‘You just want to get one over on the system,’ or, ‘You’re not really hurting, you’re just complaining,’ — I’ve experienced those. I have had seasons of seeking help from agencies and being treated in a negative way before people knew my background and that I had an education. And if your voice has been silenced and you don’t know that, you can’t always effectively do it. That’s why it’s important for the Patient Advisory Board to be that voice, create spaces for the community to be heard, and do the work needed to see the change.”

“I was not always granted the opportunity to communicate what my needs were, so I created that opportunity for myself. Advocating is not a problem for me. My voice is what saved me growing up. I have always been boisterous. I have always spoken up for myself and those who couldn’t speak up for themselves from an early age. Now I use that in a different way in my profession. I’ve learned to be more assertive. Because there was a time I was more aggressive. Balance is important. And I have matured and learned how to come to the table more effectively by not operating out of hurt and by extending grace. But I had to choose to heal, gain some knowledge, and use wisdom for that transition to take place.”

Keely Finney, LCSW, Founder of Rejuvenating Comprehensive Services, and St. Louis Regional Health Commission Patient Advisory Board Member

Story 9

“One group I facilitated for young men in school gave me an opportunity to tell my story and I remember one of them saying, ‘I just need you to show me it’s possible to get out of the hood.’ It brought me to tears because I was once where he was. We assume everyone on the corner or living an unfavorable life is because they want to. But sometimes they don’t know any other way. Sometimes they are in survival mode. I didn’t know until middle school staff took me under their wing that there was more out there. Then, while attending Charles Sumner High School, I joined the Upward Bound program and met individuals who lived totally different lives than me. I was like, ‘This is another world I’ve never tapped into.’

When I was in school, I thought I was gonna be an accountant. I did an internship and the environment was too quiet. Then I wanted to be a pediatrician. I have an issue with body fluids though, so that didn’t work. Then I went to school for biology to be a dentist because I had a lot of dental problems when I was younger. I had a bad experience at one of the clinics when they broke an instrument in my gums, so I said, ‘I’m gonna be a quality dentist in my community.’ Biology wasn’t for me though, so I took a psychology class, loved it, and changed my major to rehabilitation psychology while attending University of Central Missouri. I came home, got my master’s at Saint Louis University – School of Social Work, and it was the best decision ever.

“How does the place stay afloat?”

“Prayers! I take private insurance, Medicaid, and Medicare. And I partner with a few agencies to provide behavioral health services. RCS is the for-profit side of the business. MPWER — Motivate in Purpose with Education and Readiness — is the non-profit side. We recently started a pilot WorkForce Development Program. Individuals from the community will participate in a four-week job development course and another seven days of class to get certified in OSHA and Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response. It can be difficult to maintain employment when social determinants like transportation, food, and utilities are not being addressed. So we attached a behavioral health component to the program, which includes a community health worker, therapist, and life coach to work with each participant to help meet additional needs in the hopes of improving retention.”

“What is your definition of a healthy community?”

“A healthy community is a community that’s unified. A community that knows how to work together as a team, advocate for what is needed, and take action. A community that is able to see each individual for what they have to bring to the table. And a community that’s able to struggle together and overcome together. Healing is not a destination. It’s ongoing. So a healthy community is willing to heal and work the steps needed to be healthy and productive.”

Keely Finney, LCSW, Founder of Rejuvenating Comprehensive Services, and St. Louis Regional Health Commission Patient Advisory Board Member

A healthy community should also have equal access to needed resources. I think about food disparities, housing, drug addictions, and the inability to access services to address them. When a person is able to get what they need when they’re hungry, homeless, or addicted, resources are so few and far between that by the time something opens up, people are already back to what they know works. Even with Medicaid, it takes so long for it to come through. I may see a client without it, but not many providers will. So now people have to wait to access necessary medical services. If you’re in pain or struggling with mental health — I mean, there are patients who can’t afford their copays. Because of who I am, my business takes a loss. But the uninsured and underinsured really suffer because they typically can’t afford it. Individuals making decisions need to walk a day in the shoes, even an hour or two, of the people we serve. That would change everything.”

“Life happens. It’s how we go through it that determines the outcome. Many times we lose sight of our own well-being while assisting others. I’ve had an eventful past few weeks and thought I was doing self-check-ins. Mentally, I was good. Spiritually, I was good. But I neglected my health, which resulted in me being forced to attend to my health and take a few days off. So I took a step back and reset. My village kicked in as they always do. From my family to my sorority sisters to my church family, it’s important to surround yourself with positive, like-minded people who can hold you up even in your absence. RCS and MPWER still ran without me because people depend on the services. I love what I do and it never feels like work. I thank God daily for the strength and I look forward to what’s to come!”

Keely Finney, LCSW, Founder of Rejuvenating Comprehensive Services, and St. Louis Regional Health Commission Patient Advisory Board Member