Bio

Beckie Gierer has worked with the Department of Mental Health (DMH) for 15 years and has been with the State of Missouri for 20. Beckie works in the DMH Office of Disaster Services as the Director of Continuity of Operations. Beckie also supervises the department crisis counseling program grants after federally declared disasters and is a national trainer for the FEMA Crisis Counseling Program. Beckie provides training locally and nationally on self-care/team-care, personal preparedness, mental health first aid, psychological first aid, continuity of operations, skills for psychological recovery, disaster behavioral health response, and the importance of behavioral health in emergency planning. Beckie was part of the team that created and stood up the first ever Behavioral Health Strike Team for the State of Missouri which responded to Branson for a mass casualty event and to St. Louis in response to the pandemic. Beckie has a Master’s of Science from the University of Central Missouri.