Sam Ames serves as Senior Advisor in the Office of the Assistant Secretary, providing policy leadership on civil rights and faith-based initiatives. Prior to joining SAMHSA, they served as Chief of Staff in the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights.
Before joining the Biden-Harris Administration, Ames worked on behalf of a broad range of organizations focused on the intersections between mental health and civil rights. They most recently served as Director of Advocacy & Government Affairs for the Trevor Project, the world’s largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQI+ youth. Before moving to DC, they served as Interim Executive Director for both Trans Lifeline, a suicide hotline and community care organization that provides direct emotional and financial support to transgender people in crisis, and Our Family Coalition, an organization working to advance equity for the full and expanding spectrum of LGBTQI+ families and children.
Ames began their legal career as a staff attorney at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, working on impact litigation cases involving marriage equality, employment discrimination, and family law, before founding the Born Perfect Campaign, a national effort to end anti-LGBTQ conversion therapy. In 2016, they took a hiatus from law and policy to spend the year working as a hospital chaplain at UCSF Medical Center and Langley Porter Psychiatric Hospital. They have also authored several children’s books on the places where science, history, and social justice intersect.
Ames received their B.A. from the University of California Santa Cruz; their J.D. from George Washington University Law School; and their Master of Theological Studies from Harvard University, with a specialization in Religion, Ethics, & Politics. They are a member of the U.S. Supreme Court Bar and the State Bar of California.