GEORGIA COUNTY INTERNSHIP SPOTLIGHT

 

Savannah Partee, a graduate of Brenau University, interned with Hall County as a Mental Health Clinician. In her role, she worked with the Gainesville Police Department and the Gainesville City Police Mental Health Clinician to pilot a new mental health program. Partee earned her MS in Clinical Psychology in 2021.

 

Partee, a Suwanee native, was initially only somewhat familiar with county government operations. Her work with the Gainesville Police Department opened her eyes to county government and the control counties have over policies and procedures. As an intern, Partee helped implement the Hall County Collaborative Law Enforcement-Mental Health Program. Alongside Anjana Freeman, her supervisor and Gainesville Police Department's Mental Health Clinician, Partee carried out the objectives of the pilot program.

 

The objectives of the new program included streamlining care for citizens in crisis, decreasing the severity of future crises, and becoming a visible representation of law enforcement’s work towards caring for vulnerable Hall County community members. During the internship, Partee supported projects that would become ongoing components of the Hall County Collaborative Law Enforcement-Mental Health Program.

 

Partee's major responsibilities during her internship centered on the relationship between county citizens and public safety employees. She examined civilian and officer interactions, developed networking strategies to benefit community members and local government, and sought ways to support local officers in their interactions with the community. Partee's most significant work focused on finding ways to care for county citizens. She said her biggest successes were “helping connect community members to valuable resources, developing a tracking system for success rates, and hosting the first collaborative meeting” of the program.

 

Engaging the community was Partee’s favorite part of the internship. “I was able to gain valuable knowledge about their interactions…and use this to better develop valuable resources,” she said of working with county citizens and officers. Partee also acquired knowledge of local government operations and a fresh perspective on community issues and problem-solving. She noted that the internship experience also expanded her ability to transfer her skillset across environments.

 

At the close of her internship, Partee said that she “absolutely would” consider a career in county government. This quickly became a reality as she was later hired as a full-time Mental Health Clinician with the Gainesville Police Department. In her role, she continues to work towards her goals of serving vulnerable populations and solving problems in the Hall County community.

 

To learn more about the GCIP, please visit https://www.accg.org/caf_index.php.