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.
What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?
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.
Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.
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.
Describe the client(s) you are best positioned to serve.
I also have experience and enjoy working with individuals in ethical non-monogamous relationships, kink/BSDM, and folx who identify as queer.
About Sarah O.
Identifies as
Serves ages
Licensed in
Accepts
Appointments
VirtualMy treatment methods
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.