LMFT, 9 years of experience
Hello, I'm Sarah. Does it ever feel like your thoughts and emotions have a life of their own? Are you unsure what's "wrong" exactly, but you know this isn't the life you want to live? What about having a gut instinct that you experience this world differently than those around you seem to? I'm a therapist who specializes in working with those who are or may be neurodivergent. Professionally, I currently hold credentials highlighting my ability to work with those who are Autistic and ADHD, although neurodiversity covers far more than those two labels. Personally, I'm AuDHD and have been through the "what the?!" experience of late identification. What I have learned officially I carefully and intentionally integrate into my neurodiversity-affirming practice. I believe we of the neurodivergent community are not "wrong," nor do we need to be "fixed." We live in a world that isn't supportive of how our brains naturally work and as such will experience anxiety, depression, identity confusion, sensory struggles, and many other struggles far more than neurotypicals will. If you choose to work with me, I will do my best to help you learn tools and skills to help manage anxiety, masking, depression, burnout, emotional reactivity, executive function struggles, and various other struggles you may be experiencing. However, a large part of our work together will also be around identifying, accepting, and embracing who you are in order to help you identify and pursue a fulfilling life, whatever that looks like.
First sessions are weird. I'm getting to know you, and you're getting to know me. We're both trying to see if this is a good fit and will actually be helpful in you achieving your goals for therapy. That said, I arrive to session having already reviewed your intake paperwork (thank you for filling that out already!), and will start out by confirming some of the facts from your intake paperwork, such as name, location, contact info, and emergency contact. I also will explain the reasons for needing this information and the situations they may be used in as well. I will then explain the bounds of confidentiality, risks and benefits of therapy, and a few other policies and proceedures I need to ensure we are both on the same page about verbally. I will strive to answer any and all questions and concerns you may have throughout this portion of the session as well. After all that, I will ask your consent to continue to therapy at this time. Should you agree, I will ask you to let me know a bit more about what is bringing you to therapy at this time, what your goals are, etc. I aim to have this portion be very conversational, but I will also be asking some specific questions regarding symptoms, struggles, strengths, etc. in order to continue building an idea of what you are dealing with and how I may be able to help. In the last 10 minutes or so, we will shift to specifically discussing what your goals for therapy are if they have not come up yet already. If I believe I do not have the skill set or ability to help you, I will let you know at this time and offer referrals to help connect you with someone who hopefully better help. If I believe I can be helpful in you achieving your goals, I will ask if you want to work with me as I do not want to assume anything. If you do, we will then discuss scheduling the next session and cadence of sessions at that time.
I have a knack for connecting disparate data points into one overarching theme or pattern. As such, I use this ability to reflect, question, and outwardly wonder in ways to help you build insight into your own patterns of thinking, feeling, and being. I believe this reflective insightfulness, combined with practical behavioral tools, to be a core component needed to pursue intentional choice and change in a person. Whether your struggles are more cognitive/emotional, such as with anxiety or depression, or neurological, such as with ADHD, this ability to reflect, identify, question, and choose is the core of building your sense of ability and control in your life.
I love it when clients are curious, eager to learn more about themselves, ready to try new things, skills, tools, perspectives. That said, I also know a lot of the time the curiosity comes before the readiness to try or do, and that's okay. Then let's talk about the hesitation, the struggle to notice, acknowledge, accept, attempt, try out. So long as the curiosity is there, and a frank exploration of what's going on can be had, we may notice it's not a readiness struggle at all, but that there is some other barrier, internal or external, that needs to be addressed or accepted. I don't want perfection. I don't expect progress each session either. All I want and need from my clients is honesty and curiosity. Forgot to do the homework we chose together? Okay, let's see what happened and adjust accordingly. Therapy is a collaborative process, and neither one of us is the expert on all things. You are the expert in your experiences, so please, let me know those experiences no matter how weird, wacky, counterintuitive, or odd they may seem sometimes.
ACT is my primary therapeutic lens. At it's core it's goal isn't to reduce anxiety, or lift depression, or "fix" anything in particular, but instead to help each of us build greater psychological flexibility by changing how we respond to our thoughts, feelings, and situations. Throughout ACT work we'll use mindfulness techniques to build greater awareness in the present moment, explore various tools to help build distance from and shift perspective when reflecting on "sticky" thoughts, and build and hold space for uncomfortable emotions and sensations so they lose some of their power in directing our actions. Additionally, we will explore core values, how you want to show up in the world and what resonates with what a fulfilling life looks like for you, and practice identifying committed actions you can take in the pursuit of living those values in your life.
A person centered approach is embedded in all I do, regardless of what techniques or therapeutic tools I weave into our sessions as needed. What this means and looks like is that you are in the driver's seat and are directing where we go and how quickly we go there. I'm in the passenger's seat offering support, space, and guidance to help you achieve your goals. Sometimes this is through psychoeducation and offering tools and skills that may help you achieve your goals, sometimes as a non-judgmental sounding board to process past or current experiences.