Sarah Grunden, MPH
Prevention Team Lead
Sarah Grunden is the Prevention Team Lead at OMNI, where she oversees the State Opioid Response (SOR) and State and Regional Substance Use Prevention Services (SRSUPS) grants. Known as “sister grants,” these initiatives work in tandem to provide substance use prevention education to youth, emerging adults, and their support systems across 24 counties in Illinois, promoting safer and healthier decision-making.
Sarah earned her Master of Public Health from The University of Southern Mississippi in 2022 and her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Northeastern Illinois University in 2020. She is passionate about improving mental health outcomes for adolescents and emerging adults, with a focus on the connection between sleep, nutrition, mood, mindset, and chemical health. Sarah finds great fulfillment in helping young people build strong foundations that support long-term well-being and future success.
Drawn to OMNI by its mission and supportive culture, Sarah values the organization’s community-wide impact and collaborative environment. Outside of work, she enjoys interior design and home remodeling with her husband, spending time with friends and family, walking her Golden Retriever, Finley, and watching Bravo television. Originally from Seattle, Washington, she moved to the Chicagoland area in 2014 and brings a lifelong love of working with children and celebrating the holidays—especially Christmas.
OMNI is a local, community-based nonprofit that partners with our community to save lives and change futures. OMNI impacts over 115,000 people annually primarily living in Lake and Cook Counties.
Since 1972 OMNI has been a leader in providing life-changing and life-saving counseling, case management and community-wide prevention services to youth, adults, and families. Our mission is to provide access to quality behavioral health and educational support services for children and adults that results in pathways to successful and healthy behaviors throughout life. OMNI Means “ALL” in Latin and we stand by accessible and inclusive services for all in the community who need us.
OMNI helps individuals overcome challenges, develop strengths and build skills they can use for a lifetime. We address both social determinants of health as well as provide critical mental health counseling and supportive case management services. OMNI provides Individual, Family and Group Counseling for children, adolescents and adults, 24 hour crisis Intervention, substance abuse prevention and treatment, child abuse prevention and intervention, juvenile justice services, youth leadership and healthy choice advocacy and family resource support.
Common issues OMNI battles with our clients include: depression/anxiety, peer and relationship issues, family conflicts/divorce, trauma past and ongoing (domestic violence, child abuse and sexual assault), academic problems, criminal activity, substance abuse, school refusal and much more. OMNI creates positive change today for a better tomorrow.