THE SAMMY CENTER
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Mission Statement
The Sammy Center is founded on the belief that every single child is amazing and should be given every opportunity to reach their highest potential.
About This Cause
Utah is facing a childhood mental health crisis. Nearly 19 percent of children in Utah have experienced four or more Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), traumatic childhood events that can impede neurological development and lead to unhealthy behaviors. Brain damage from ACEs impacts a child’s ability to pay attention, process memories, and control emotions, which can lead to learning difficulties, poor performance, and behavior problems. The Sammy Center provides year-round preschool programming that supports young children who need help navigating their emotions, including children who have experienced trauma. Traditional preschools are typically unequipped to support these children, and many of the kids that come to The Sammy Center have been expelled from or asked to leave a preschool program. The Sammy Center is a strengths-based school that meets all kids where they are and provides Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs) to help mitigate, buffer, and counteract the negative impacts of ACEs. The Sammy Center is an environment where children are able to start with a clean slate and thrive to their fullest potential through research-based methods that prepare preschool age children for their future academic and social lives. The Sammy Center was established in 2018 by Maria Soter, a long-time early childhood educator and child mental health advocate, and began operating in 2020. The Sammy Center is a 501(c)(3) early childhood learning center that focuses on social-emotional learning and providing an environment where children can feel seen, soothed, safe, and secure. The Sammy Center aims to build children up at a young age and help them move through hardships so they can be successful adolescents and future adults. The Sammy Center is rooted in Maria’s family’s personal experience. In 2006 her second child, Sammy, was born and passed away later that same year. Children and adults experience adversity differently, and resources and services for children are extremely limited. The Sammy Center is founded on the belief that every single child is amazing and should be given every opportunity to reach their highest potential. The Sammy Center has helped many preschool-aged children work through adversity and become prepared for their academic and social lives in Utah. Trauma, adversity and disabilities have no boundaries. We serve all children who need extra support. Together, with a team of experts including the child's family, determined if The Sammy Center is the right fit for their child. Oftentimes children come into our program who have been expelled, asked to reduce hours and/or cannot find another program where their child can be successful. The Sammy Center is a place of inclusivity, a place that is trauma responsive and a place where all children are safe, seen, soothed and secure. Our internship program is vital and vast. We have on average 12 to 15 interns/volunteers (per semester) from the University of Utah. Their majors range from; pre-med, psychology, social work, and mental health. At present, we have over 4,000 in kind volunteer hours documented. Interns/volunteers in our program gain hands on, experiential opportunities that they will take with them for years to come. Many of our interns are grateful for the experience gained on our program. The opportunity has helped them determine what they want to do as a career, how they want to give back, and make a difference in the world. They also see the need for programs like ours and want to be change makers. Our internship program is a large part of our work force and enables us to offer such high quality, hands on, low ratio for our children. Programs from across the state have requested training and support so they can implement similar internship opportunities. At The Sammy Center, we’ve seen firsthand how early intervention and individualized support can create a foundation for a child to live a full, vibrant, and healthy life. Founded on the belief that every child is extraordinary, The Sammy Center is committed to providing every opportunity for children to reach their highest potential. Our holistic, strengths-focused approach is rooted in the Pyramid Model and combined with trauma responsive care practices that foster resilience, self-care, and healing. We also emphasize a home-to-school connection, offering families access to wellness resources, including support from our (LCSW) and workshops led by our Professional Parent Trainer. As a high-quality program certified by the Utah state rating system, we celebrate diversity and equity, creating a safe space where all children can thrive, regardless of their background. Research demonstrates that building a foundation of confidence and social-emotional skills in Early childhood leads to better long-term outcomes, even in the face of adversity. The Pyramid Model helps us create this impact for our students, as evidenced by the data that we are starting to see come out of these efforts. This data helps us identify patterns and refine our processes to mitigate or even prevent behavioral escalations. By tracking the occurrence of challenging behaviors and implementing targeted interventions, we expect to see a steady decline in problem behaviors and a rise in healthy social-emotional learning (SEL) behaviors over time. Our early data also highlights specific times of day and classroom environments where interventions are most effective, allowing us to allocate resources more efficiently and personalize our approaches to meet the unique needs of each child. I’ve witnessed many stories of transformed school experiences at The Sammy Center, one that lives in my heart is that of [L.G]. L started at The Sammy Center in 2022. L was expelled from two previous programs. Mom’s were desperate to find a program that would not ask them to leave. Activities that introduced emotional regulation and focus, opportunities to engage and make friends with other students, and trained teachers who met L inside his comfort area helped him to begin to navigate his feelings and behaviors in a healthier way, creating confidence and more opportunities for learning. One day, almost a year after L had been in our program. He saw a new and younger peer struggling with clean up time. He gently approached his peer, put his hand over his and said; “like this, this is how you clean up.” Today, L has been ‘loved and launched’ into kindergarten and is thriving. This student’s story is just one example of how we work to meet each child where they are and help them grow into resilient and empowered individuals who are ready and able to make their mark on their world.