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| MAY 2020 | 20 UNDER 40
DECATUR HERALD & REVIEW
TARA ULIS Age: 38
SARAH JANE PHOTOGRAPHY
Occupation: Owner of Ulis Crisis Intervention & Consulting Services, LLC. Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) at Decatur Police Department and Decatur Memorial Hospital. Family: I am blessed with a family who supports and gives me fulfillment every day. My loving husband and I have 4 kiddos—Jack, 10, Emma, 10, Hunter, 7 and Henry, 3. We also have Lucky, a golden retriever who is being trained as a service dog for my son with autism; Sam, a bearded dragon; Kit Kat and Gizmo, guinea pigs. My mom is a very integral part of my family’s daily life, even moving here from Southern California. The development of my professional life would not be possible without my husband and moter. Thank you. Career highlights and/or accomplishments: Graduated with a Masters in social work from California State University, Los Angeles. I started out working in hospice and end of life care at Connecticut Hospice. Studied and attained my License in Clinical Social Work (LCSW) and transitioned into trauma social work through the emergency department at Yale. We have lived in Decatur for nearly nine years and I have began developing a similar social work trauma program at DMH. This serves to provide support to patients and families involved in trauma, but also mental and emotional support to hospital staff and first responders that are often secondarily affected. Through Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), my goal is to decrease secondary trauma as well as provide an outlet for medical staff and other first responders to process and learn to cope with past trauma as well as recent traumatic incidents. I am the coordinator of Decatur Area Critical Incident Stress Management—an all-volunteer team comprised of EMS, firefighters, police officers, medical staff, chaplains and mental health professionals who provide psychological triage to peers who have experienced a critical incident. Our team also responds to the community at large, including schools and hospitals who have experienced a crisis or trauma. This time allows both first responders and civilians to process the events that have occurred in order to return to baseline. Additionally, I have initiated a point-of-
service wellness liaison role for the Decatur Police Department with the help of a grant my husband and I wrote to the Macon County Mental Health Board. I have been actively involved with law enforcement, doing ride alongs in order to build relationship and trust with these heroes. Through this program, I am able to assist law enforcement with both counseling and education on techniques in order to minimize risk for PTSD in a high-risk population. Lastly, this April, I created Ulis Crisis In-
ership at First Christian Church. We help bring the women of Decatur together with multi-generational fellowship and worship through events. I also play the fiddle as a part of Broken Brogue, a local Celtic band, as well as both trumpet and violin in my church band. I have played music since the age of 10 and was blessed to meet my husband (who also plays trumpet) while playing as a member of the UCLA marching, jazz band and orchestra through my college years. Music has always brought a sense of both calm and adventure to my life, allowing me peace during chaos and traveling the world through high school and college.
What should the community do to attract more young people to the area: Continue to build and grow quality schools and small businesses, so that they can provide more activities and opportunities for raising a family in Decatur. Ideally, all Macon County residents would have the opportunity to attend magnet schools throughout the county, this way there is more of a unified school district idea than a divisive DPS, M-F, MTZ, A-O, CG or Warrensburg — the community will have a larger investment in all schools in the community, not just in the town they live in. We love “hole in the wall” and local restaurants so that we can have a multitude of cultural experiences as a family. These cultural experiences include art, music, theater and food. In terms of raising a family, we need more activities for children, especially during the winter (indoor activities). Utilize a large space to create a “family entertainment center,” like Overlook Adventure for the winter. We are looking forward to the water park opening and would love to have more unique playground options and more lake activities. We have a beautiful lake here in Decatur but are unable to utilize it without owning a boat. We need to commercialize the lake for family use. Increased bike path tervention & Consulting Services, LLC. The availability, including around the of the services I provide include crisis planning, lake. counseling and therapy after a traumatic event for both individuals and the general What are three things most people don’t community. know about you? 1. I spent 100 days on a ship learning Community involvement: Member of the about culture abroad through Semester at CASA (court-appointed special advocate) Sea in Spring 2003. board. Founded a mothers of multiples 2. I lived in Guatemala on my own for two group providing support, advice and fel- months in order to immerse myself in the lowship to new mothers of twins and triplets. Part of the women’s ministry leadPlease see ULIS, Page 17
