Word out of Connecticut’s Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) is Barbara Geller is retiring as director of the Statewide Services Division. For more than 20 years, Barbara has been a partner with CSH and a dedicated champion of programs meeting the diverse, unique mental health and addiction services needs of her state’s most vulnerable people, including those facing homelessness and other forms of housing instability.
In her role at DMHAS, Barbara was one of the original leaders of the movement to establish supportive housing as the solution for chronic homelessness in Connecticut. Under her leadership, more than 5,000 units of supportive housing have been developed statewide. A visionary, Barbara also helped advance housing first and supportive housing as a solution to some of Connecticut’s most complex problems such as how to better serve frequent users of crisis and emergency care. Her work has not only helped to improve the lives of many individuals and families in her own state, she is regarded as a national leader and true advocate for those most in need.
We at CSH wish Barbara all of the best in her retirement.
