Sarah Frazell is the Primary Care Coalition’s Director of Behavioral Health, a position she has held since 2018. She was once featured in the organization’s 2019 Storytelling Show.
Frazell has been with PCC since 2013, when she moved to the area from Athens, Georgia, with her then-boyfriend/now-husband Tyler, who was in grad school at the University of Georgia. She is originally from the Twin Cities in Minnesota, where her parents still live and where she went to graduate school to get her master’s in social work. She did her undergraduate studies in Iowa and spent a year in D.C. with Lutheran Volunteer Corps between college and graduate school.
During her 11-year tenure with PCC, her longest with any organization, Frazell filled three roles: Behavioral Health Care Manager, Supervisory Behavioral Health Care Manager, and Director of Behavioral Health. In her current position, she oversees programs and initiatives to improve access to behavioral healthcare for patients who face economic, cultural-linguistic, and other barriers to care. She leads day-to-day program operations for behavioral health care delivery in the Montgomery Cares Behavioral Health Program (MCBHP), sets the strategic direction for increasing impact, leads teams, and represents behavioral health needs and expertise on behalf of the PCC. While her role is less directly patient-focused than her previous two, she attempts to keep her clinical social work skills from getting too rusty by providing clinical supervision and filling in to see patients when the behavioral health team is short-staffed.
“I enjoy connecting with people and spending time with them, and I like doing so many different things in my current role. I get to work with a lot of other organizations, and I get to meet a lot of people, in addition to working with great colleagues within PCC,” said Frazell.
“No day at PCC ever looks the same for me. It varies a lot. One minute, I may collaborate with another organization to discuss common challenges and brainstorm solutions; the next, I may be looking for a resource for a patient. And then I might fill in to provide direct patient care for a telehealth appointment.”
According to Frazell, she is inspired by people’s stories, and spending time listening to and understanding them drives her. She shares that her interest in people and their stories drew her to social work in the first place.
Colleagues might be surprised to learn that Frazell’s second longest tenure with any organization was as a cookie decorator for Cookies by Design, a job she held through high school and when she was home from college. She learned that Valentine’s Day was “all hands on deck” every year, and the company’s biggest sellers included heart-shaped cookies.
With a toddler son, two cats, and a recent move to a 1920s-era house that has generated a “to-do” list of painting and wallpapering projects, Sarah Frazell’s home life is as busy as her work life.
Fifteen-month-old son Julien recently started to walk, and he has taken a keen interest in his new play sink with recirculating water. A month ago, the family adopted their second rescue cat. Four-year-old Willow, featured in the March Pets of PCC, is now adjusting to the kitten energy of Cooper, who is just over a year old.
Frazell enjoys watching movies, cooking, and trying new recipes that aren’t too time-consuming or complicated. She also enjoys yoga and attending concerts. She and her husband have taken Julien to concerts at Merriweather Post Pavilion and Wolf Trap. The family already looks forward to more shows this summer!
Frazell has been with PCC since 2013, when she moved to the area from Athens, Georgia, with her then-boyfriend/now-husband Tyler, who was in grad school at the University of Georgia. She is originally from the Twin Cities in Minnesota, where her parents still live and where she went to graduate school to get her master’s in social work. She did her undergraduate studies in Iowa and spent a year in D.C. with Lutheran Volunteer Corps between college and graduate school.
During her 11-year tenure with PCC, her longest with any organization, Frazell filled three roles: Behavioral Health Care Manager, Supervisory Behavioral Health Care Manager, and Director of Behavioral Health. In her current position, she oversees programs and initiatives to improve access to behavioral healthcare for patients who face economic, cultural-linguistic, and other barriers to care. She leads day-to-day program operations for behavioral health care delivery in the Montgomery Cares Behavioral Health Program (MCBHP), sets the strategic direction for increasing impact, leads teams, and represents behavioral health needs and expertise on behalf of the PCC. While her role is less directly patient-focused than her previous two, she attempts to keep her clinical social work skills from getting too rusty by providing clinical supervision and filling in to see patients when the behavioral health team is short-staffed.
“I enjoy connecting with people and spending time with them, and I like doing so many different things in my current role. I get to work with a lot of other organizations, and I get to meet a lot of people, in addition to working with great colleagues within PCC,” said Frazell.
“No day at PCC ever looks the same for me. It varies a lot. One minute, I may collaborate with another organization to discuss common challenges and brainstorm solutions; the next, I may be looking for a resource for a patient. And then I might fill in to provide direct patient care for a telehealth appointment.”
According to Frazell, she is inspired by people’s stories, and spending time listening to and understanding them drives her. She shares that her interest in people and their stories drew her to social work in the first place.
Colleagues might be surprised to learn that Frazell’s second longest tenure with any organization was as a cookie decorator for Cookies by Design, a job she held through high school and when she was home from college. She learned that Valentine’s Day was “all hands on deck” every year, and the company’s biggest sellers included heart-shaped cookies.
With a toddler son, two cats, and a recent move to a 1920s-era house that has generated a “to-do” list of painting and wallpapering projects, Sarah Frazell’s home life is as busy as her work life.
Fifteen-month-old son Julien recently started to walk, and he has taken a keen interest in his new play sink with recirculating water. A month ago, the family adopted their second rescue cat. Four-year-old Willow, featured in the March Pets of PCC, is now adjusting to the kitten energy of Cooper, who is just over a year old.
Frazell enjoys watching movies, cooking, and trying new recipes that aren’t too time-consuming or complicated. She also enjoys yoga and attending concerts. She and her husband have taken Julien to concerts at Merriweather Post Pavilion and Wolf Trap. The family already looks forward to more shows this summer!
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