(she/her)
PROFESSIONAL I started my career in social work as a crisis counselor at a shelter for survivors of intimate partner violence and sexual assault in San Luis Obispo, California. After 5 years, I decided to make things legit and off to graduate school I went. My clinical training as a child therapist led me to working with people across the lifespan: children, families, and older adults. I also spent years working in the county jail, providing mental health services for incarcerated individuals. In addition to my therapy practice, I work for Alameda County Behavioral Health as a clinical supervisor for the Crisis System of Care. PERSONAL I am a Taiwanese American daughter of immigrants and am conversationally fluent in Mandarin. 我會說中文。雖然不太好，但我可以! I am a Bay Area native and live in San Ramon, California. I am passionate about my yoga practice (any Ashtanga yogis out there?) as well as living into my faith values. Although not my preferred hobby, I spend a significant amount of time playing overly complicated board games and losing.
Our first session will be a little different than "regular" sessions - we will spend some time reviewing legal mumbo jumbo (consent, confidentiality, mandated reporting), but will also utilize the time to ensure we are a good fit for each other. I want to hear about what brings you to therapy, and we can discuss how I might be able to help.
My areas of interest are the following: 1. Gender-based Violence: This includes anything from intimate partner violence and sexual assault to child abuse, crisis, and complex trauma. 2. Grief & Loss: This is commonly seen as bereavement, but grief and loss extend out to reproductive loss, estrangement, relationship breakups, life transitions, and physical decline/illness. 3. Spirituality & Religion: This includes leaving a religion, religious trauma, change of faith, spiritual deconstruction or reconstruction as well as religion and spiritual exploration.
I also have experience and enjoy working with individuals in ethical non-monogamous relationships, kink/BSDM, and folx who identify as queer.
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
The most salient aspect of my practice is informed by my own experience of being a client in therapy. I went to therapy for years, a significant portion with an IFS therapist. It was there I learned the power of welcoming my own parts, seeing their positive intentions, and hearing/listening to each of them - this is the way I came to humanize myself, lean into discomfort, and do the work of internal repair.
Grief Therapy
I am a PESI certified grief therapist. Grief can feel like depression, but it is distinctly different in that it is characterized by a longing for something lost; it could be a relationship, a season of life, or a dream/hope for something that never came to be. Grief is a natural human experience and some of us just need someone to walk alongside of us as we navigate growth around a painful part of our lives.
1 rating with written reviews
June 28, 2025
I just really love my sessions with Dr Sarah, She has been so compassionate, kind, sensitive to all my issues and needs. She’s my lifeline…and she’s helped me tremendously!