Honoring Clermont County Municipal Court Judge Anita Bechmann as The 2025 Champion of Hope
- dmichaels54
- Jun 16
- 3 min read
This year’s Champions of Hope Honoree, Judge Anita Bechmann, began her career as a lawyer in 1992. In 2022, she was appointed by Governor DeWine to the Clermont County Municipal Court bench, where she currently serves as administrative judge of the Court. In 2023, she reached out to Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health Services (GCBHS) leadership to assist her in launching a Mental Health Court in Clermont County. “Throughout my career,” she says, “I saw the impact that mental health issues have on individuals, on families, on our court system. I kept thinking, maybe we need to be more proactive in that area.”
She continues, “I spent a long time in juvenile court, and I represented abused and neglected children. Because these children were in trouble with the law, you begin to learn that most people are not bad people. They are responding to circumstances and behaving in a way that they've been taught. As I grew in my career, many of these children became adults, and the system didn't work well for them or give them enough support and help. So here they are, as adult criminals. But they weren't bad people. They were just hurting people. And if you could teach them new ways to think and act, then maybe they could stop that cycle.”
Clermont County Municipal Court Administrator Tracie Sellars agrees, “Data shows us that if we can help these individuals become invested in themselves through programming and treatment, our communities are safer. Their families are better. They are better parents. They are better employees. They are better community members.”
With support from the court, the Adult Probation Department, and GCBHS, a Mental Health Court docket was launched. In 2024, Judge Bechmann was asked to fill a vacancy in the OVI (Operating a Vehicle Impaired) special docket, which works closely with CASC (Clermont County Community Alternative Sentencing Center), a program located in the Clermont County jail and operated by GCBHS staff. Judge Bechmann says these dockets are important because, “The entire goal is for them to learn (when we're out of the picture), how to live a clean, healthy, sober lifestyle, and that includes support systems from the community, their family, and maintaining whatever treatment or medicine they may need. So, that's our goal...to get them to buy into this new lifestyle and then want to live it forever and learn the skills to do that.”
Those who work with Judge Bechmann are in awe of her commitment to helping people and making their lives better. She is also quite humble and loves giving credit to everyone but herself. “I get the glory of being able to sit there on the bench when an individual says, ‘I feel hopeful or I feel worthy,’ or you get to see their true personality coming out because now they're taking care of themselves. And it's an honor to be able to see that happening in individuals. But I'm not the one doing the hard work. I think that comes from probation officers, case managers, counselors, group leaders, the psychiatrists, the nurses...which is why I'm so taken aback with this award. I get to see the benefits of it and hear the good stories and see the progress, but it's GCBHS staff and probation that are doing the hard work, as well as the people in the programs.”
