Tune in to Focus Carolina during morning, noon and evening drive times and on the weekends to hear stories from faculty members at UNC and find out what ignites their passion for their work. Focus Carolina is an exclusive program on 97.9 The Hill WCHL, sponsored by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Sarah Verbiest is a public health social worker, with over two decades of experience working to improve the health of women and babies. As a clinical associate professor and director of the Jordan Institute for Families in the UNC School of Social Work and executive director of the Collaborative for Maternal and Infant Health in the UNC School of Medicine, she promotes engaging families at each stage of life and advocates for partnering with communities and diverse stakeholders in identifying problems and their solutions.
Verbiest is also a “triple Tar Heel,” having earned her DrPH, MPH and MSW – all at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
“I’m really lucky that I get to wear a number of different hats in my work here at Carolina,” said Verbiest. “The Institute was founded in 1996 by Michael Jordan and his family, with the importance of really centering families in North Carolina. So we are really trying as an Institute to catalyze change for families by connecting the wisdom of communities with social work research and policy and practice so that we can advance strategies to support all families across the lifespan.”
Through her roles, Verbiest promotes engaging families at each stage of life and advocates for partnering with communities and diverse stakeholders in identifying problems and their solutions. Her work in research, training and implementing evidence-based programs focuses on inclusion, bringing in voices from racially and culturally diverse populations and centering equity in practices and policies that affect families.
Verbiest was one part of a team that developed the Fourth Trimester Project, a collaborative at Carolina that includes the Schools of Medicine, Social Work, Information and Library Science and the Gillings School of Global Public Health. The team developed a website, newmomhealth.com, that provides information new mothers and their families need and was developed based on research with community partners and families.
“So we often think beyond the standard view of a family as just a couple and their children,” said Verbiest. “So, being inclusive of single parents, step-parents, grandparents who raised grandchildren, we have multi-generations living under one roof and some people who come together to form a family without children. There’s just so many different ways, have a variety of different strategies and policies to support them. I think equally important is that it’s also the identity of families really matters. So we really care that all families can thrive.”
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