Sandra Thomas earned her Masters in Social Work from UCLA in 1977 and began her professional career at MacLaren Children’s Center in 1978, where she set up the first play therapy program.  Her interest and focus on children and families continued through increasingly responsibsle positions Compton Mental Health Center in South LA, as Child Abuse Services Coordinator at LACDMH headquarters and as Supervising PSW at Hobart Manor, a residential program affiliated with Augustus Hawkins Comprehensive Mental Health Center.  Ms. Thomas returned to Compton as Program Head in 1991 and served in that role until 1999, when she was appointed District Chief of Children’s programs in SA 6.  In 2004, she became head of the new DMH Child Welfare Division and developed the Countywide Specialized Mental Health Services Program under the County’s Katie A. settlement agreement.  In 2007, she was named Deputy Director (having served as Acting Deputy Director since 2006), of the new Specialized Children and Youth Services Bureau, encompassing both Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice Programs, and also took on full oversight of SA 6.

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