Our Story

Teacher

Alicia discovered her passion for working with young children 10 years ago. Her dedication and commitment shine through with each conversation she has with preschool-age children and only continue to grow. With her initial education and training beginning with toddlers, she has found a deep commitment to working with preschool-age children and helping them find support with social-emotional skills and life-long success.

TEACHER

Grace is going to be a sophomore at the University of Utah, majoring in Early Childhood Education. She started at the Sammy Center as an intern and is excited to transition into a teaching role. With a passion for fostering development, Grace is excited to make a positive impact at the Sammy Center. 

LCSW

I began my career in social work, facilitating parenting classes for at-risk communities in the greater Salt Lake and Park City area. Research has shown that strong parent-child bonding is one of the most important protective factors for decreasing delinquency, substance abuse, child abuse, and negative peer influences on children. Protective factors work to increase safety and emotional well-being, build strong family relationships, and promote healthy social connections. I have been facilitating and teaching positive parenting practices for over 25 years. I am passionate about relationships, especially those between parents and children. One of the best ways to build resiliency in both yourself and your child(ren) is to focus on the 4 Pillars of Wellness, which include Health, Home, Community, and Purpose. I'm looking forward to sharing ways to decrease stress, identify emotions, make healthy connections with your child(ren), and build strong families. My wellness classes will explore these pillars and provide you with knowledge, new skills, home practice exercises, and time to talk with other parents about their experiences with parenting and self-care.

Attorney for D.A.'s office, Juvenile Branch

Blithe Craven's professional career and experience are what drew her to become involved in The Sammy Center and serve on the board. Blithe's background in Criminal Justice dates back to 1998. Since 2018, she has worked for the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office as Senior Deputy District Attorney and supervisor of the Family and Sexual Violence Unit.

She once shared that if she could just keep one child out of the system, she would feel like she had done a good thing. Difficult as it is to have the knowledge and experience of what Blithe sees day-to-day, her commitment to making a difference and serving our community is a gift.

Emily is currently the Director of MSW Practicum Education and an Associate Clinical Professor in the College of Social Work at the University of Utah. Prior to 2020, Emily was the Executive Director of the National Association of Social Workers, Utah Chapter, a position she held for eleven years. In this role, she managed daily operations including budgets, meetings, boards, conferences, and continuing education. She also routinely worked with the Utah legislature and DOPL-Utah's regulatory board, to strengthen and draft social work rules and statutes important to the social work profession. She consulted with many state and county agencies on ethics and practice-related issues, served on multiple external boards and committees, presented over 150 talks on various social work-related topics, co-authored ASWB licensing prep materials, and a state licensing manual, supervised and advised MSW students, and authored and successfully advocated for six pieces of social work-supportive legislation intended to strengthen professional social work, and was as a consultant to DOPL on ethics-related infractions. She taught Practice I and II in the MSW program as well as an attachment - focused summer elective. Her work with NASW culminated in national recognition as the National Outstanding Executive Director of the Year (2013), local recognition as one of Utah’s Thirty Women to Watch (2014), and the Utah Social Worker of the Year (2022). She was also recognized in my current position as the Practicum Professor of the Year in 2023—a student-driven recognition.

Emily began my social work career as a case manager for Catholic Community Services in 1995, and entered the MSW program in 1997. In 1999, her social work education and experience crystallized with an MSW degree from the University of Utah. After earning her MSW degree, she spent 14 months of residence at the Yale Child Study Center in intensive post-graduate fellowship training, where she maintained a client load and received daily didactic instruction and supervision. Two months into her tenure at Yale, she was selected for a concurrent Bush Fellowship at the Yale Ziegler Center for Child Development and Social Policy (formerly the Yale Bush Center), where she conducted research and consulted on policy issues at their intersection with child development. After fellowship training, she directed public policy and community initiatives for the United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona where she co-led a small team that developed a successful early childhood initiative that continues to benefit young children and families throughout southern Arizona. She returned to Utah in 2003 where she worked as a private practitioner in a multi-disciplinary group practice and as a crisis social worker in the emergency department at the University of Utah Medical Center before starting her role with NASW, Utah Chapter. Her almost thirty years of experience and training as an educator, clinician, advocate, and administrator have imparted a broad understanding of the biopsychosocial underpinnings fundamental to the social work profession and the training and support needs of diverse students and colleagues. In addition to her interest and experience in clinical social work, administration, policy, and program development, she continues to advocate for educational resources to support student learning and policies that serve professional social work and the communities we serve.