Henry David Thoreau

“Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves”

MEET THE CO-FOUNDERS

Sarah and Megan are two working moms with young kids who don’t want to see any more of our neighbors dying on the streets alone. Ember Place Behavioral Health has a team of passionate individuals with extensive experience in Washington’s behavioral healthcare.

Meet Co-Founder

Sarah Bliss Matousek, PhD, MPH

Sarah Matousek, PhD, MPH, co-founder of Ember Place Behavioral Health, has worked for the last seven years as a Managing Principal at Day Health Strategies, where she leads a team working on multiple healthcare transformation initiatives in varied healthcare sectors. In this role, she has designed care management programs for major provider networks and evaluated primary care/behavioral health integration efforts for health systems and State programs.

 

After spending eight years in academia researching Alzheimer’s disease in Rochester, NY and then at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Sarah studied health policy and management at the Boston University School of Public Health. While there, she collaborated with a team at Harvard Medical School to develop and implement a mobile phone solutions program for surgical patients in rural Haiti.

 

In addition to her role at Day Health, has held adjunct and affiliate faculty positions at Boston University’s Metropolitan College and at Ariadne Labs. She is currently a member of the Board of Directors for Care 2 Communities, a primary care organization operating in Northern Haiti. She holds a PhD in Neurobiology & Anatomy from the University of Rochester and an MPH in Health Policy & Management from Boston University.

 

Sarah has witnessed firsthand the fragmentation of our system and the unnecessary categorization of populations of people into disease categories. Humans should have unfettered access to care for their behavioral and social health needs, and should be able to get that care in a place that is free from judgement and stigma. She and Megan Fisher have dreamed of working together on solutions for many years and are excited to finally make this dream a reality.

 

Sarah currently lives in Spokane, Washington. She loves to travel, bike, run, and hike.

Megan Fisher, MA, LMHC, co-founder of Ember Place Behavioral Health is a licensed mental health counselor in Washington State with ten years of experience working in behavioral healthcare as a treatment provider. Megan currently owns and operates a private practice where she provides a specialized approach (Internal Family Systems) in the treatment of trauma and addictions to adults in the Seattle area.

Megan loves working with people and is passionate about creating change on a micro level within people, so that those people can show up differently in their world and contribute to change on a macro level.

 

Megan’s clinical experience includes working for a private group therapy clinic in Bellevue specializing in addictions; working as a clinician for multiple community agencies including Pioneer Human Services Co-Occurring Residential Program (CORP) - an inpatient treatment program for adults involved in the criminal justice system who struggle with mental health and substance use disorders; Sound Health (formerly Sound Mental Health) providing mental health treatment to adults in the Seattle / Tukwila area; The Gavin Foundation – a substance use disorder clinic in Boston, MA; and at a long term residential treatment program and homeless shelter in Boston called the Boston Rescue Mission.

 

After completing an undergraduate degree in Business-Finance and working in management in various financial institutions, Megan was extremely curious about the struggles of people she saw on the streets with clear behavioral health issues and this curiosity led her to complete her Masters degree in Mental Health Counseling in Boston, MA.

 

Megan currently lives and works in West Seattle, Washington. She enjoys spending time outside with her husband and two daughters; walking, running, hiking, and exploring the mystery of the Pacific Northwest.

 

MEET THE BOARD

Our Board of Directors is made up of caring, experienced community members and professionals who understand the mission and wish to help EPBH see it to fruition in the coming years.

  • Lauren currently works in private practice as a therapist in Seattle. Lauren has extensive experience working in community mental health clinics and homeless shelters where she’s experienced helping individuals find long term supportive housing as an outreach clinician and working with clients with high trauma, severe mental illness and substance related disorders. Lauren has extensive knowledge of the systems of support in the Seattle area and how to provide trauma informed care.

  • Howard is a chemical dependency specialist case manager at the downtown emergency services shelter (DESC) in Seattle. Howard has worked in the Housing Opportunity and Meaningful Engagement (HOME) Project and provides excellent care to unhoused individuals in Seattle. Howard was once living on the streets of Seattle himself, struggling with mental health and substance use issues and has been sober from substance use for more than ten years.

  • Sarah is a peer support specialist and is currently in school at UW Tacoma to become a social worker and continue working as a peer with peer support services. Megan Fisher and Sarah met while Sarah was a consumer/client of services at an residential treatment center in Seattle, WA in 2017 where Sarah has remained sober since Sarah plans to become a clinician herself to help others find hope and support to recover from behavioral health issues, learn healthy coping skills and find freedom from trauma.