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A family therapist and family life educator, through the years
SaraKay has been an impetus for many highly effective political
and social initiatives. While an undergraduate student at Goucher
College, she co-chaired an intensive effort that led to the
peaceful desegregation of the entire Towson community where her
college was located. Her efforts resulted in an award by the
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. Prior to the
1960 election of President John F. Kennedy she organized a student
sponsored traveling mobile unit that distributed material about
the late President throughout the Towson area.
Following
President Kennedy's election SaraKay worked at the Democratic
National Committee where she coordinated the activities of the
Young Democrats in a three state area. With the encouragement and
support of the late President, SaraKay began her graduate work in
social work at the Catholic University in Washington. Her first
marriage brought her to the Philadelphia area where she has
remained following a divorce and subsequent remarriage several
years later. A column that SaraKay wrote during this period for
the Philadelphia Inquirer is credited with humanizing and
effecting major changes in Pennsylvania's archaic and prejudiced
divorce laws.
A member of
the Board of Overseers of the Pennsylvania School of Social Work,
her alma mater, SaraKay initiated the concept of the Crystal Stair
Award, a description drawn from the poignant Langston Hughes poem,
"Mother to Son." The award is given to a "natural social worker"
of any profession who has worked passionately toward social
justice and the elimination of prejudice and oppression. The first
Crystal Stair Award was given to Marian Right Edelman in the
spring of 1997.
SaraKay was
one of the initial group of Philadelphia women working to create
the Philadelphia group which became Women's Way. She has served as
both vice chair and chair of the Philadelphia County Child Welfare
Advisory Board, where she has stressed the importance of an
interdisciplinary, collegial community centered approach in
addressing all challenges and problems. A Board Certified
Diplomate in Clinical Social Work and a Certified Family Life
Educator, SaraKay has wide teaching experiences and has published
and lectured extensively in her field. In the role of family life
educator she has appeared on radio and television programs
nationwide, speaking about family values necessary in intimate
relationships: dignity, mutual respect, respect for differences of
opinion, humor, common sense and patience.
In her
clinical practice SaraKay combines the treatment modalities of
individual, couple, family, and group psychotherapy with family
life education to meet the expressed goals and needs of the
individuals and families who consult with her. A pro bono
consultant to the Philadelphia District Attorney's office, her
current private practice of more than twenty years follows
experience as a marriage and family counselor and Director of
Family Life Education for Jewish Family Service of Philadelphia,
where she coined the term "relationship counseling." She has also
held positions as family therapist at the Philadelphia Psychiatric
Center and protective service counselor for the Philadelphia
Society to Protect Children from Cruelty.
Learn more about SaraKay at her
website:
http://www.sarakaysmullens.com
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