Sarah Kelley
I’m a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW/LICSW) and Certified Clinical Trauma Professional (CCTP), licensed in Maine (ME), Connecticut (CT), Virginia (VA), North Carolina (NC), Massachusetts (MA), and Florida (FL). I’ve spent over ten years helping people heal from trauma, stress, and other difficult life experiences. My approach is compassionate, supportive, and focused on helping you feel safe and understood. I use several evidence-based methods to help you process painful memories, release emotional blocks, and move toward lasting healing.
Because trauma often affects sleep, I also incorporate tools from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Nightmares (CBT-N) when needed.
Because trauma often affects sleep, I also incorporate tools from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Nightmares (CBT-N) when needed. Improving sleep can have a powerful effect on emotional balance and overall well-being. My goal is to create a safe, collaborative space where you can begin to feel more in control, more at peace, and more hopeful about your future. Together, we’ll work toward helping you reconnect with yourself and the life you want to live.
First session
In our first session together, we'll start with brief introductions, then dive into the specific challenges you're facing. This will help me create a tailored plan for us to work through in follow-up sessions.
Strengths
My approach is supportive, empathetic and, above all, pragmatic. Whether you seek to make a major change, overcome current life stressors, or to break a chronic pattern, I will assist you in meeting your needs.
Ideal clients
I support individuals coping with PTSD, abuse, neglect, complex grief, relational trauma, and other adverse life events. My approach is client-centered and grounded in safety, trust, and collaboration. I aim to create a non-judgmental, empowering space where you can process difficult experiences at your own pace.
Treatment methods
Cognitive Processing (CPT)
I often use Cognitive Processing Therapy in my practice which mainly targets PTSD and other related symptoms such as Depression and Anxiety. In your first session, we'll explore what brought you to therapy and then decide the most appropriate ways to help you make progress. With CPT, we'll look at how your thoughts affect your emotions and your experiences in order to find balance between pre- and post-trauma beliefs.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-i)
CBT-I focuses on restructuring the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that are contributing to insomnia. Therapy techniques involve stimulus control, sleep restriction, and relaxation training. Most individuals who try CBT-I experience improvements to their insomnia and better quality sleep. CBT-I is considered effective for both short-term insomnia and chronic insomnia. *Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Nightmares is an additional treatment method. CBT for Nightmares (CBT-N) is a short-term, multi-component, behavioral treatment for chronic nightmares, designed to reduce their frequency and intensity and improve sleep and daytime functioning. CBT-N helps individuals identify and change unhelpful thoughts, emotions, and behaviors related to nightmares, ultimately aiming to reduce the distress and improve sleep quality.
Brainspotting
I have received formal training in Brainspotting and integrate it into my clinical work as a trauma-focused and regulation-based intervention. My approach emphasizes creating a safe, attuned therapeutic relationship that allows clients to access and process unresolved emotional and somatic material stored beneath the level of conscious awareness. Sessions often begin with identifying a target issue, locating body sensations, and using eye position to anchor the processing point. It supports clients in processing experiences that are often inaccessible through traditional talk therapy, promoting integration and self-regulation.
Location
Virtual sessions