Sara is a global mental health practitioner and researcher. She works in (post)-conflict zones specializing in psychosocial well-being and protection of children affected by war. Her recent assignments have been: 1) a formative evaluation of a project delivering mental health and social support services to former child soldiers from the Lord’s Resistance Army on the Ugandan-South Sudan border; 2) a randomized control trial in Jordan’s Za’atari refugee camp to evaluate mental healht case management care being provided to Syrian refugees by the World Health Organization and International Medical Corps; and 3) co-developed a monitoring and evaluation plan for a program aimed at increasing literacy and numeracy skills among mothers living in Rwanda’s resettlement camps. While Sara’s international work focuses on providing mental health services to forcibly displaced people (i.e., refugees, internally displaced persons, former child soldiers, trafficked people), her domestic work focused on issues of access to healthcare and police brutality, specifically marginalized groups who die at the hands of law enforcement.

She received her BA degree from University of Denver, two masters degrees from Columbia University (a MPH in Public health and Humanitarian Assistance; and a MA Global Mental Health and Trauma; respectively), and is currently pursing her doctorate in clinical psychology at Long Island University.

Sara is a Colorado native who spent her summers hanging out around a marine biology lab on the coast of Maine. She takes immense joy in learning about different cultures and practices (either through travel, work, or on the streets of NY), open ocean kayaks, climbs mountains and sleeps in a hammock at the top, and treasures her family. Sara also has a little woof (dog) that she affectionately calls her playful shadow, Zuri.

Interests

• culture
• books
• italian food
• traveling
• live music
• jazz
• hiking
• kayaking
• learning new things
• public health
• nonfiction
• ethiopian food

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Rwanda, South Korea, Spain, Uganda, Uruguay, Viet Nam