Meet The Team!

Karen Tornkvist

Karen was born and raised in Idaho and is a wonderful wife and mother to 5 of her own children and 2 adopted children. In her free time, Karen enjoys spending quality time with her family and friends, providing service to others, and traveling to exotic places around the world to experience other countries and cultures. Karen completed her BBA in Business Administration with an emphasis in Information Technology from Idaho State University. Aside from managing EIYH, Karen has had a successful career in Information Technology and has worked at the INL and other local businesses. She is a licensed real estate agent/investor and has a love for construction and renovating homes. Karen current passion is overseeing the day-to-day operations of East Idaho Youth Homes and the company’s expanding vision. Throughout her years as a licensed foster parent, Karen dreamed of being able to provide opportunities for marginalized youth on a larger scale. This brought upon the idea of East Idaho Youth Homes; a much-needed resource for Idaho’s youth ages 10-23. As the chief administrator of this rapidly growing company, Karen works closely with leaders from around the community to provide services for these youth. Although East Idaho Youth Homes is a younger company, It has obtained an international accreditation through the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) as well as becoming a Qualified Residential Treatment Facility (QRTP). The EIYH program has successfully established four residential treatment facilities in the greater Idaho Falls area that has provided opportunities and resources to over 300 marginalized youth in since January 2020.

Amanda Ely

Amanda Ely is the Deputy Administrator for East Idaho Youth Homes, LLC (EIYH). She started working for this awesome company in January of 2022 and has not looked back. Amanda states, “EIYH has challenged me in every aspect of my life and in areas I didn’t know I needed to strengthen. Working with seniors and youth is something I love to do, so this position has been very rewarding.”

Her past experiences are many at this point in her life, but some of things she has learned makes her a jack of a lot of trades. For example, she was an aircraft mechanic apprentice who worked on A6’s and F16 fighter jets. She was an electrical apprentice as well building Apache helicopter hangers for the military. She was a paraprofessional in the Virginia school system with students with disabilities and even worked as a receptionist for an elementary school in her very first job.

She feels biggest accomplishments include being married for 28 years, raising two sons (and having two grandsons), and completing a Masters in Business Administration through the University of Phoenix and a Bachelors in Business with an emphasis in Human Resources through Idaho State University in 2002.

Amanda states, “My goal is to be the best person I can be at all times, while showing youth how to meet their potential. Out of all of my education and experiences, working with people will always be my passion.”

Kaitlyn Fohs

Kaitlyn Fohs is the Case Manager Supervisor and Direct Care Staff Supervisor for East Idaho Youth Homes. She is a strong believer that the energy you put out into this world is the energy you get back. Her tried and true method is to speak to everyone with the same compassion and expectations that she would like for someone to give back to her. She is the older sister to triplet younger siblings, and she brings that big sister energy directly to the youth she works with. She is the first in her family to graduate college and also one of the longest running staff at East Idaho Youth Homes. She has been fortunate enough to see every single one of the companies incredible expansions!

On the rare instances that Kaitlyn is not working, she enjoys working out and reading books on Greek Mythology.

Sadie Trujillo

Sadie Trujillo is East Idaho Youth Homes Direct Care Staff Lead and Trainer. Although she wears many hats, Sadie handles them all with grace. Sadie entered the company as a Direct Care Staff and through hard work has elevated her position in this company to be a leader that handles a multitude of tasks daily. Sadie seeks out trainings nationally that she feels will better equip our staff and our program. She strives to make East Idaho Youth Homes a safe place for staff and youth alike. This has allowed her to be in a position of trust and open communication for the staff and youth to know that they can approach Sadie with any problems they may face knowing that Sadie will help them through.

When not working to better this company, Sadie enjoys spending time with her husband and two young children as well as camping, ATV rides, taking naps when possible, crocheting, and doing for others.

Lina Mitchell

Lina Mitchell is a Case Manager with East Idaho Youth Homes. She has always wanted to work with at risk youth due to her own rough upbringing. Lina feels that by working with the youth in her community, she can bring about positive change and provide them with the resources and services that she lacked as a child. She is a strong believer that you do not get what you do not work for and although each story is different, each person can accomplish their dreams with hard work and perseverance. She would like the youth she works with to understand that the trauma they have experienced is not who they are but simply what they have been through. Lina graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology with an emphasis in childhood development and family services and continues her education through trainings and seminars centered around trauma and resilience in order to apply that knowledge to her work.

In her free time, Lina enjoys spending time with her husband and three children as well as reading, watching hockey and traveling.

Liz Copeland

Liz Copeland is a Case Manager with East Idaho Youth Homes. She lives her life with an utilitarianism view; where she wants to provide the greatest amount of good to the greatest number of people. This view comes from her struggles in childhood and young adulthood. She strives to make the world a better place hoping to reduce the suicide rate in Idaho. She believes she can do this by impacting the foster care system as they are the most at risk. Due to the adversity that Liz faced, graduating high school was a big accomplishment. Knowing that she could overcome that obstacle, she then took on college and graduated with her Bachelor of Arts in Social Work. She is now working towards her Master of Social Work with an emphasis in mental health, trauma, and substance abuse. She would like to use this Master’s degree in order to continue her work in helping the youth in her community.

In her free time, Liz enjoys spending time with her family and her friends, and hiking the beautiful Idaho terain.

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”

Rebekah Clay

Rebekah Clay is the Case Manager at Canyon Cottage for East Idaho Youth Homes. She was married in February 2022 and moved to Idaho Falls in April 2022 with her partner and three chihuahua mix puppies. In her free time she enjoys camping, fishing, hiking, 4-wheeling, boating, etc. She love being outdoors. She has a firm belief that “You get what you put in." If you want to have a good experience in life, you will do the work it takes to have that experience. Yes, life happens but it is what you choose to make of it that makes the difference. Twenty+ years of experience in working with children and young adults in various capacities including behavior intervention, child care, teaching, career services, job exploration, managing housing, prepping for adulthood, etc. Those years of service have been with organizations such as University of Texas at Arlington, University of Portland, Azusa Pacific University, MidAmerica Nazarene University, Arizona State University, Progressive Behavior Systems, Hagerman Joint School District - Idaho, Buhl School District – Idaho, Kindercare Inc., Little Lambs Preschool and Daycare, Lake Mary School for Exceptional Children, Riverside Service Group, and now East Idaho Youth Homes. Ten+ years of fundraising and event planning experience helping to raise over $500,000 for the Arlington Life Shelter in grants, helping to plan and execute a $6,000,000 capital campaign for the same shelter, planning fundraising events and galas for anywhere from 15 individuals to over 1,000 individuals for multiple organizations,and currently, the last 8+ months implementing change to better accommodate the children that she is serving in our community, providing them with tools they need for managing their coping skills, teaching them daily living skills, connecting them with community resources and working together with our team to provide the best care we can for them.
She learned very early on in life the importance of helping others and how special it makes them feel and return how it made her feel better. From then on, it has always been her life’s mission to help. The “Pay it Forward” mantra if you will. If she can help even just one person and they pay it forward,then she feels she has done her job. After that, the rest is just bonus. She'll never stop trying to make others’ lives better.

JR Sellers

JR is a Case Manager who enjoys working with and helping the youth here at EIYH. JR earned his Social Work degree at ISU and is now a Licensed Social Worker. JR began working with kids early on; as a teenager, he worked at a daycare. After high school, he was employed for a number of years as both a substitute teacher and a bus driver. After seeing kids struggle because of a situation that wasn't their doing, he decided to find an avenue where he could continue helping people from a different angle. Outside of work, JR enjoys doing theatre and playing board/table-top games.

Walter Gates is a Program Specialist with East Idaho Youth Homes. Walter holds a master’s degree in psychology. Walter has worked around youth in many capacities. He has worked as an elementary school counselor and as a former collegiate athlete, he found great joy in coaching high school basketball. He was blessed with four beautiful children and nothing brings him more joy than watching them bravely concur adversity. When asking Walter what his North Star is, he stated, “Vulnerability is not winning or losing; it’s having the courage to show up and be seen when we have no control over the outcome. Vulnerability is not weakness; it’s our greatest measure of courage.” -Brene Brown”He will never forget the 23/45 running of the Bulls. h’Alas! The Bears are the monsters of the midway. ‘Root, root, root, for the Cubies. If they don’t win, it’s a shame.

Calvin is a Case Manager with East Idaho Youth Homes. Calvin has a strong passion for working with teenagers that have experienced trauma. Calvin feels that much of the work of overcoming trauma should start as early as possible and that teenagers have a large potential for successfully overcoming their negative past experiences. Calvin believes that teenagers deserve to be respected and to have a voice in their treatment and in what happens in their lives. Calvin graduated from BYU-I with a bachelor's degree in Social Work. Calvin looks forward to continuing his education and becoming a therapist.In his free time, Calvin enjoys spending time with his wife and two dogs. Calvin loves being outdoors, working with his hands, and doing anything that includes learning.