Local recovery worker receives prestigious award from Utah Department of Corrections

EPHRAIM – A former Sanpete County Recovery Court client has built a career around helping people who are struggling with drugs and alcohol and using her own experience to connect them with professionals and services.

That work recently earned Brianna Timms a Public Service Award, one of the highest awards given by the Utah Department of Corrections (UDC).

Criteria for the award include “extraordinary competence, problem-solving, public service commitment and collaboration.”

Timms, a case manager and peer support specialist at Central Utah Counseling Center, received the award Aug. 24 during a DOC’s awards ceremony at the State Capitol in Salt Lake City.

The award citation recognized Timms “for leveraging your personal recovery experience to provide amazing collaborative support to probationers and (the) Sanpete County Recovery Court, which significantly enhances offender rehabilitation and community safety.”

A nomination statement, which came out of the Division of Adult Probation and Parole, noted that she often volunteers beyond her professional duties, including helping with transportation and facilitating communication to support client success.

Kristofer Lundeberg, team leader in the Ephraim office of the Counseling Center, who was interviewed for a Messenger story about Timms in 2025, described her as “a dedicated team member who plays a vital role in our organization, particularly in supporting recovery.”

“Brianna genuinely cares about our clients and is deeply invested in their journeys, celebrating their successes and supporting them through their struggles,” Kristofer Lundeberg, team leader in the Ephraim office of the Counseling Center, told the Sanpete Messenger when interviewed in 2025 for a story about Timms.

“She actively advocates for her clients and empowers them to succeed, while remaining direct with them when they need to adjust their behaviors and thinking patterns to achieve their personal and career goals.”

Timms graduated from Sanpete County Drug Court in 2019 and stayed connected to the program. She was asked to serve as a bridge between professionals and clients, and remained involved as an alumni member of the Recovery Court team.

While still connected to the program, she helped the court develop parts of its structure and volunteered to sit in court as an alumni peer.

She later received training to facilitate CRAFT, or Community Reinforcement and Family Training. Timms facilitated CRAFT at Central Utah Counseling Center before the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted that work. She then started school at Snow College as she worked to build a better life.

Timms was offered a position as the Recovery Court case manager on Aug. 31, 2021. She earned her initial Certified Peer Support Specialist certification on July 16, 2022, finished an associate degree at Snow College cum laude on May 4, 2023, and completed a federally registered peer-support apprenticeship on Aug. 23, 2024. (The apprenticeship was sponsored by Utah State University Extension in partnership with Central Utah Counseling Center).

Earlier this month, she received her family peer support specialist certification.

A month after earning her initial peer-support certification, Timms completed training on peer support in the justice system, which she described as the first training of its kind in Utah. She later completed a year of specialized training to supervise other peer support specialists in the system.

Timms said peer support allows her to reach people in places where the system may not be able to reach them. “I would describe peer support as using my life experiences to offer support to other people and pretty much offer a hand to pull them back out,” Timms said.

Her first reaction to the award was surprise, she said.

“I was so shocked, to tell you the truth,” Timms said. “Once I finally came around to it, I was so excited. It’s really hard for me to receive public recognition, but I have worked very hard for this.”

For Timms, the recognition should also go to people who supported her along the way. She said the moment she most hoped for was having her whole family present to share the award, and she was grateful to receive that love and support.

Timms said she does her work for her children and for children throughout the community. She wants her children to learn resilience from her and to see that people can make positive changes. She said she wants her children to grow up in a community shaped by hope, love, understanding and a willingness to meet people where they are.

Lundeberg said Timms regularly helps organize community activities with the Sanpete County Sheriff’s Office and Sanpete County Recovery Court to strengthen families and support sobriety.

She was one of the primary organizers of this year’s fourth annual Recovery Day at Mt. Pleasant City Park, an event Lundeberg described as a celebration of hope, healing and community that brings residents and law enforcement together through speakers, food and giveaways.

Timms said her next goal is to help expand housing options for people on their recovery journeys.

“I would really like to continue to help people,” Timms said. “I would really like to help people with housing. There isn’t much in this area in the way of safe housing, shelters or sober living. I would like to see that changed.”