Sara Elise Bristol is the Community Engagement Specialist for the Grand County Rural Health Network. Sara Elise joined the team in 2019 and worked as a Care Coordinator before being promoted to her new role in 2021. As the Community Engagement Specialist, she works to connect, educate, motivate and mobilize the local community to address specific, community-identified issues.
Sara Elise grew up in a small town along the New Jersey shore and moved to Colorado in 2016. In 2015, she graduated from Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida with a BA in Criminology and a minor in Psychology, focusing on nonverbal communication and restorative justice. Sara Elise has always felt most fulfilled working in advocacy roles. In 2013, she interned at the Department of Juvenile Justice in St. Augustine, Florida, advocating for adolescents and helping them to navigate the Criminal Justice System. In 2018, Sara Elise worked with Camp Fire Alaska and traveled to rural Yup’ik communities providing the youth with wellness programming and coordinating community engagement events.
Sara Elise has acted as an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community for over ten years through fundraising, educational panels, and spreading awareness. Sara Elise is a trained Second Circle facilitator. She uses this facilitation to build bridges across racial and cultural differences in communities by helping build trusting relationships and fostering a space where groups can work toward real, meaningful change. Sara Elise also speaks intermediate level Spanish.
Sara Elise lives in Fraser, Colorado with her fiancé Mary, her dog Sunday and cat Nala. In her spare time, Sara Elise enjoys just about any outdoor activity, singing, yoga, drinking tea and reading folktales from all over the world.