Sarah Carlson - NMU Social Work

Sarah Carlson is a licensed clinical social worker in the state of Michigan and earned her MSW from the University of Wisconsin - Madison in 2013. She graduated with her BSW from Northern Michigan University in 2008. Sarah has focused her social work practice in mental health and trauma with children and families and has practiced in wilderness therapy, residential care, and community mental health. Her specialization has been in trauma treatment with individuals and families, and she is passionate about educating current and future professionals on effective trauma-focused care and trauma-informed practice. She has been instrumental in non-profit and mental health program development and building knowledge of secondary traumatic stress (STS) among direct care workers. At the core of Sarah's work, she supports the emotional learning of liberatory, anti-racist practice and knowledge. 

As the MSW Program Director, she has prioritized partnership with indigenous communities, teaching from a trauma-informed and anti-racist framework, and building nurturing relationships with students, faculty, staff, and communities. Sarah's past and present scholarship has centered around the prevention of secondary traumatic stress as well as using the natural environment, relationships, and other methodologies to prevent and treat STS. Sarah also focuses a significant degree of work on addressing power, privilege, and positioning through a trauma-informed, somatic lens, with an emphasis on developing self-aware social work students. As the MSW program director, Sarah leads with an emphasis on anti-racist theory transferred into conceptual practice and programming. She has advocated for meaningful departmental change that attends to reform and accountability at a systemic level.  Through partnerships with the department and community leaders, she has helped build programs that recruit and support underrepresented students, including the Mino-bimose’idiwag program, which supports internships in tribal victim services programs, and decolonized training and cultural building on campus. 

Sarah has contributed heavily to the mentorship program for a local mountain biking organization for at-risk youth. She is a mother of two girls, and seeks an intentional balance in her many roles. She practices self-nurturing through engagement in her natural environment; running, mountain biking, skiing, gardening, and playing on the beach and forest keep her in motion. Sarah is deeply committed to intentionally showing up in her life, career, and community.