I hold high value in your journey and acknowledge that healing isn’t linear. I understand that people are complex, and my mission as a therapist is to create a space that allows you to explore every facet of your nuanced experience. Maybe your pain comes from childhood trauma, family or social dynamics, work pressures, partner relationships, or a specific incident that is impacting your life right now. Regardless of the source, healing can happen within a safe space created in therapy.
My therapy style is warm, collaborative, & curious, and my aim is to ensure you feel safe having honest conversations about your past and present so you may confidently create the vision you want for your future.
My hope in our work together is for you to trust your intuition, better cope with stress, develop flexibility and loving acceptance of yourself and your loved ones, and enhance the strengths you already have. I bring a trauma-informed, social justice perspective into our sessions, I am LGBQT+, Kink & BDSM affirming, and I enjoy working with non-traditional relationship structures (though you don’t have to identify with those parts). I look forward to working with you.
Sarah specializes in…
- Licensure
- MA, LMFT
- Clinical Supervisors: Alana R. Ogilvie, MS, LMFT, AASECT Certified Sex Therapist and Karlaina Brooke, PsyD
- Degrees
- Master of Arts, Marriage, Couple, and Family Therapy – Sex Therapy – Lewis and Clark College
- Bachelor of Arts in Spanish and Multimedia – University of Oregon
- Advanced Trainings
- Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT): Attachment-based Interventions to Treat Trauma, Anxiety, and Depression
My Journey
I became a sex and relationship therapist as a result of what I learned on my own healing journey. I was raised in a fundamentalist religious organization that told me how I needed to behave emotionally and sexually as a “good Christian woman.” As a result of these rigid beliefs, I had to hide myself and couldn’t show my colorful personality.
Coming out of this period of my life, I realized how deeply pathological my upbringing was. This journey sparked a passion in me to help people unpack sexual shame and discover empowerment, clarity, and pleasure- however that looks for you. I’m here to help you do meaningful work, especially related to sex and sexuality, couple’s work, gender identity exploration, relationship dynamics, and non-traditional lifestyles.
For those of you interested in my therapeutic framework, here’s a bit more information about how I work:
My Work with Individuals: I am an integrationist and utilize Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT/REBT), Internal Family Systems therapy (IFS), and Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT). My goal in this work is to help clients feel safe, hold compassion for themselves, reduce shame, develop agency, and reauthor their lives to strengthen relationships with themselves and others.
My Work with Couples: I integrate Bowenian Family Systems to look at intergenerational patterns that may impact the relationship and Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) to help you identify and modify your conflict patterns, highlight your strengths and the friendship you have with each other, and create shared meaning in your relationship. I believe relationships should be enjoyable, and I often give couples refreshing homework assignments to break old patterns and invite new experiences. I will gently challenge the parts you feel aren’t serving you anymore and invite change through psychoeducation. My goal in this work is to improve communication, improve trust, and navigate your emotional and sexual connection needs.
