New to Grow
Hello, I am very happy to meet you here. My name is Cassandra Sams, but please call me Sandy. I have been working as a counselor for over 20 years. Most of my experience has been in private practice but I also spent some time in agencies working with children and adolescents. I believe the agency work gave me wonderful opportunities to work with families and to help them navigate very challenging issues like mood disorders and anxiety. I feel very privileged to have been allowed to help parents find new behaviors to help them navigate the world of parenting. I also have been able to help children and adolescents understand their parents' perspectives. Likewise, I really enjoy working with individuals who are dealing with various life transitions such as leaving school to go to college or into the workforce, leaving college and building a career, getting married and having children, or struggling with the mid-life crisis and coping with career changes or life changes such as divorce or deaths of family members. I do not consider myself to be the expert of your life. You are the expert and I am the witness. I feel honored and privileged to be invited into your life experiences and to be a witness to your life's journey. I believe that your story is sacred and I thank you for allowing me to be a part of it. I use cognitive behavioral strategies blended with existential therapy to assist you in discovering what your story is. My hope is that you will learn to love your stories as much as I do.
My ultimate goal is to have my clients feel safe and understood in their first session. In the very beginning of the session, I will review informed consent with you and go over your rights to privacy with you and the limits around those rights. I will also encourage you to take charge in the session and to use your time in the way that feels best for you. There are times when I take a more directive approach if that is what you need but I do believe that you are the expert on your life. I will work on building rapport with you and truly listening to your reasons for reaching out at this time in your life. By the end of the session, I hope to be able to summarize what you discussed and to provide some thoughts about what I am witnessing. I am always open to feedback about my approach and if you have questions or concerns or if I misunderstand something, it is my sincere wish that you feel comfortable enough to correct me and to help me see your perspective more clearly. We will finish our first session by deciding whether or not you felt comfortable with me as your counselor and if you did, then you can anticipate me rescheduling with you for as often as you need. If you did not feel comfortable or do not believe that I am the right fit, please do not feel as though you need to reschedule for the sake of politeness. I honor your right to choose what is best for you. That being said, I want you to know that I am still honored that you shared your story with me.
My hope is that you will feel as though I am genuinely interested in you as a whole person. Having worked in a treatment center in which individuals had to walk away with some scary diagnoses, I know how frightening it can be to think that people will only judge you off of previous behaviors or based off of labels given to you. I want you to feel as though we can address all areas of your life, from your physical health to your emotional health and your spiritual health. I may discuss diagnoses and medications, but I will also bring up possible alternative medicine and behavioral ideas which could be useful to your healing and growth such as art therapy. I want to hear about your relationships and the people who are important to you in your life. I want to provide reading or worksheets and exercises which can help you find better ways to cope with the obstacles that life may throw in your path. My hope is that by looking at your entire life, not just a medical description, you will feel more empowered to make changes which will help you to build the life that you want for yourself. Most of all, I want you to walk away from sessions feeling as though the person that you are is honored. You are unique and special, and I hope you can learn to embrace all of the beauty that you hold.
If you are struggling with life transitions and feeling confused about next steps in your life then I will work with you and help you to identify your goals, your dreams and your values. There are very obvious life stage transitions which we all have to navigate, and I would be honored to be a witness to your journey as we work together to find a path forward which is best for you. The transition from adolescence to adulthood, from young adult to mid-life, and from mid-life to glory days each have unique challenges. You will find great satisfaction in your life if you look at these stages as adventures to be experienced. Yes, there are times when you will feel challenged and defeated, but there will also be times when life will blow you away with awe and with each new adventure you will grow to become an individual who is wise and self-aware. It is my greatest honor to witness each person's growth and to help them identify the themes which drive them to continue moving forward, sometimes in the face of the greatest adversity. This is what Joseph Campbell referred to as the "hero's journey." Your life is the embodiment of a hero's journey and your stories about the life you are leading are sacred.
Other specialties
I identify as
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
With cognitive behavioral techniques you can learn to identify how negative thoughts and belief systems affect both your emotions and your behaviors. By using CBT, we will learn the skills of thought-stopping and thought-changing and work toward mastery of those thoughts. Once you have discovered your meta-cognitive ability to "think about your thinking" you will feel more confident about how to cope with your emotions and with your ability to change your actions.
Existential
Existential therapy helps you learn that many of your fears are rooted in a fear of loss and the pain that accompanies loss. Once this core fear is identified it then becomes easier to find ways to display courage and feel more powerful in overcoming our challenges.