Sara Elise 'Essie' Bristol

Envision CHW Sustainability Lead
University of Wisconsin—Mobilizing Action Toward Community Health (MATCH)

Sara Elise (Essie) is the Community Health Worker (CHW) Sustainability Lead on the ENVISION team at the University of Wisconsin Madison Population Health Institute MATCH group. As the CHW Sustainability Lead, Essie provides technical assistance and capacity building training to CHWs to center health equity within their communities and create sustainability for the CHW profession both locally and nationally.

Essie graduated in 2015 from Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida, with a BA in criminology and a minor in psychology, focusing on social determinants of health and restorative justice.

Prior to joining the Envision team, Essie worked as a CHW, care coordinator, and a community organizer in rural Colorado. Essie connected, educated, and mobilized the local community to address specific community-identified issues via coalition building, leadership development, and policy change. A highlight of Essie’s experience is living and working in rural Alaska Native Yup’ik communities and working with the local Tribal councils to facilitate daily programming on wellness, cold water safety, emotional intelligence, and outdoor education.

Essie is passionate about building bridges across racial and cultural differences in communities. She emphasizes trust building and finding common ground through relationship building and fostering a space to work toward meaningful change together.