Our very own Sierra Thomas, Community Prevention Specialist, was recently featured on the Prevention Perk podcast to share her unique path to prevention and why she is so passionate about the work she does at Beacon Mental Health.
Prevention Perk is hosted by Steve Miller with the Mid-America Prevention Technology Transfer Center (Mid-America PTTC), an organization that is designed to serve as a prevention catalyst, empowering individuals and fostering partnerships to promote safe, healthy, and drug-free communities across Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas.
Sierra joined Steve to share how she found herself in the world of prevention. She began her career in education as a certified elementary school counselor, but felt a deeper call to help students get ahead of the issues they were facing, rather than reacting to their outcomes. Sierra very much enjoyed helping others grow in their mental health and wellness journeys and wanted to continue doing so with a more proactive approach. Prevention seemed to be the natural next step. She learned about Beacon Mental Health (Tri-County Mental Health Services at the time) from a job posting on social media and joined our team in June of this year to begin her journey as a Community Prevention Specialist.
We are thrilled to have bright young minds like Sierra working with the youth in our community to share prevention strategies and how to make healthy decisions, as well as with their families and support networks to instill positive modeling at home and helpful tips and tricks for navigating the prevention of substance use and other negative or illegal behaviors. She really wants to make a difference, and this drives her and our other passionate staff members to create a positive impact in Clay, Platte and Ray counties every day.
Among her other accomplishments, Sierra is very driven. She got the opportunity to speak on Prevention Perk after meeting host Steve Miller at a conference and sharing with him that one of her “28 in 28 goals” was to be featured on a podcast. That’s right – for every year of Sarah’s current age, she sets the corresponding number of goals to complete within that year. Learn more about Sierra and her work in prevention by listening to the full episode here!
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