DENVER - Sometimes it happens in the corner at a fundraiser, or in an elevator. Someone will take Jeannie Ritter by the arm and tell her about the daughter who is suffering from bipolar disorder, or the husband with depression who drove off in his rental car on a business trip and killed himself.

Since becoming Colorado's first lady in January, Ritter has made mental health awareness her mission. She's traveled around the state to hear from health professionals frustrated about inflexible federal funding; sheriff's deputies concerned about spending overtime to transport a prisoner to get treatment; teachers who want to reach out and help families showing signs of stress; and families of people suffering from mental illness.

The former flight attendant, teacher and missionary and mother of four has no professional experience in the field. But she was attracted to the issue partly because her sister has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She wants to get rid of the stigma surrounding mental illness.

"When people start sharing their story, there's this impact," Ritter said in an interview before taking another "listening tour" on mental health to Aspen, Frisco, Silverthorne and Leadville. She's held similar tours in the Western Slope and northeastern and southeastern Colorado. A trip to the state's southwestern corner is being planned for the fall.

Ritter said having people open up starts a dialogue where they can admit mental illness is just as much a threat to someone's life as heart disease - and talk about what do about it. She calls herself an "excuse" to get people together to talk about their frustrations.

Ritter joked that people may grumble at first when they hear she's coming, thinking it's time to "sweep out City Hall."

But she isn't formal at all. She appeared for the interview at the governor's mansion wearing a sweat shirt, hiking shorts and flip-flops after rushing back from weeding at her family's house, a fresh scratch on her leg. She left to quickly change her top and returned with a thermos of green tea and mismatched tea cups.

So far, Ritter's openness seems to be catching on.

Bob Whaley, executive director of Southeast Mental Health Services in La Junta, said he first expected a visit by Ritter last month to be more like an "inspection." That changed when he met her.

"She makes you feel so comfortable," Whaley said.

Ritter said she was impressed by the La Junta center's support for the chronically mentally ill, mainly schizophrenics, who instead of being placed in institutions are getting high school diplomas and living on their own.

But she also learned that in the agricultural region's small towns, some people are still afraid to have their cars spotted in the parking lot of a mental health clinic. Whaley accommodates them by arranging appointments out of town.

"It doesn't do us any good if we have an advocate and she doesn't see the real deal," Whaley said of Ritter.

Ritter was in Walden, in northwest Colorado, on one her trips when an armed man went to the office of her husband, Gov. Bill Ritter, at the Capitol, declaring that he was the "emperor."

Aaron Snyder, 32, was shot and killed outside the office on July 16 by a state trooper. His mother had told police that he was delusional and being treated by a psychiatrist.

Ritter said her husband told her that the work she was doing was important and not to rush home.

She went ahead with a listening tour meeting in Steamboat Springs before returning to Denver the next day, canceling a stop in Craig. The usually candid Ritter didn't want to say much about the case other than that most mentally ill people aren't violent and are more likely to be victims of violence.

"My heart goes out to that family," she said.

Ritter is concerned about a wide range of mental health issues - from the chronically ill to mothers struggling with postpartum depression to ski workers who need substance abuse treatment.

The magnitude of the problems could easily be overwhelming. Colorado ranks 33rd among all states in per capita funding for mental health care, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. It ranks seventh nationally in suicides per capita. In 2005, 795 people committed suicide in Colorado - 133 more than died in car crashes, according to state figures.

About 25 percent of people in state prisons last year had a moderate or severe form of mental illness.

Jeanne Rohner, executive director of Mental Health America of Colorado, said having a high-profile advocate like Ritter willing to talk about how mental health has impacted her own family gives people hope.

She said Ritter has joined a Denver area group looking at ways to get treatment for the mentally ill who are now ending up in emergency rooms and jails. Ritter's participation, she said, has lent more validity to the project.

"People are talking about how to make things better," Rohner said.