DeAnn George is the Program Coordinator with the Forensic Support Team.
In a system as large as Colorado’s Office of Civil and Forensic Mental Health (OCFMH), it would be easy for individuals to be overlooked as just a number, a collection of nameless faces and cases. However, 40 years of experience in the field has led DeAnn George to cultivate a very different space within her work. She holds an acute understanding that when you’re working with people, it’s about so much more than what you see on paper. “I saw people getting lost in the shuffle, and have a passion to make sure those people are seen and heard,” said DeAnn. With roots in community corrections and 18 years of direct involvement working within jails, she is dedicated to giving a voice to those without one, and to amplifying these voices to ensure each individual is heard and receives the help they need.
DeAnn has been a part of OCFMH since the inception of its Forensic Support Team (FST) in 2019. In 2022, with the establishment of OCFMH’s pre-restoration education program, DeAnn was promoted to a position as a Program Coordinator. She lives in Greeley, Colorado, and is passionate about working with and giving back to her own community.
The Forensic Support Team includes forensic navigators in 52 jails across the state of Colorado; DeAnn’s role on FST is the supervision of navigators throughout Colorado. The program works with jails to coordinate client care and communicate their needs. Responsibilities include meeting with clients face-to-face on a regular basis, providing care coordination, assisting the state Mental Health Hospitals with triaging admissions, and connecting with stakeholders in the community.
“We’re the axel,” DeAnn said. “When we get involved with families, we can connect them with the court and explain what their family member is going through. We go into jails and see them in their worst moments, but you also see the dedication our staff have to helping them through it.”
DeAnn and FST’s work is multi-faceted: acting as the main point of contact between clients, stakeholders, the courts, and hospitals. Since the birth of the program, it has flourished to serve an average of 1,023 clients on any given day and thousands of contacts with community, jails and court stakeholders every month.
DeAnn has directly experienced how significant having someone advocating for your needs can be for these clients. She recalls one memorable encounter with a patient: “I get a Christmas card from him every year thanking me for being his voice,” she said, “I see the beauty of following someone in a critical crisis through to stabilization.”
From the Frontlines highlights the people who work for the Office of Civil and Forensic and Mental Health (OCFMH), operates Colorado’s two mental health hospitals, the Forensic Services Division and the Division of Mental Health Transition Living. The office provides a continuum of mental health care that includes pre-trial restoration services, inpatient hospitalization and, soon, transition homes for community-based care.