About Sara
My Orientation and Approach
Psychotherapy is a personal journey—it isn’t just about a particular technique or modality, but about choosing the right fit in chemistry, personality, and connection. While it’s easy to feel pressure to choose the "right" type of therapy, research regularly shows that what matters most is the quality of the relationship you build with your therapist. Change and transformation take shape in a space of safety, acceptance, and authentic curiosity, where your unique experience is honored and explored. You deserve a therapist who truly sees you, who welcomes every part of you with warmth and non-judgment, and who is devoted to walking alongside you while you navigate your path toward growth and rediscovering your wholeness.
My style is warm, deeply curious, and sometimes direct and playful. I am focused on understanding your inner world and the dynamics of your life and relationships that either support or inhibit your growth. Through compassionate, attentive listening, I help you untangle the beliefs, patterns, and fears that may be holding you back.
Together, we make sense of what once felt confusing or overwhelming, and often, cast a shadow. Our work creates space for all parts of you to emerge—especially those that learned to stay quiet, adapt, or hide for safety or acceptance. In this perspective, symptoms and struggles are reframed as meaningful signals that call for attention, inviting you to reorient toward a life of greater alignment, freedom, and wholeness.
Recognizing that every person’s journey of becoming is unique, I draw from a wide range of therapeutic modalities to meet you where you are. My approach is primarily relational, psychodynamic, and analytic, but I also integrate cognitive, narrative, and humanistic perspectives, always through a multicultural and trauma-informed lens. I incorporate parts work, mindfulness, and somatic practices, and am trained in harm-reduction and psychedelic-assisted therapy, including preparation and integration support.
My flexible, holistic approach to therapy accompanies you on your unique path. Ultimately, therapy with me is a collaborative process—one that honors both your history and your innate capacity for change. My holistic, trauma-informed, and psychodynamic perspective means that we’ll not only understand where you’ve been, but also discover the future that awaits you.
My Path To Becoming A Therapist
Looking back, I see that my path toward becoming a therapist began long before I understood it as a profession. As a child, I loved connecting with and learning about other people’s stories, experiences, and the wisdom they gained from their paths. I was drawn to the mysterious natures and the subtle, often unspoken dynamics that sculpt and shape relationships. Only in retrospect do I see how I sensed the depth: that much of what matters most in relationships lies beneath the surface, felt in emotional undercurrents, relational patterns, and unspoken truths. Over time, I learned to trust this sensitivity as a form of insight, and it is a foundation of my work as a therapist.
I was born and raised in New Jersey and completed my undergraduate studies in Washington, D.C. My professional life began in public relations at Time Inc. in New York City. As I walked the streets, surrounded by excitement and millions of people, I noticed an inner emptiness. Despite success, this chapter was marked by loss, disorientation, and profound questioning. Unsure of how to navigate my internal turmoil, I turned to a guiding value that had always shaped my family life: service.
I left the U.S. for the Peace Corps and landed in Azerbaijan, a country I had never heard of. Living and immersing myself in a culture vastly different from my own for over two years altered my understanding of American identity and the potential for human connection beyond borders. It also taught me humility, deep listening, and the importance of seeing beyond one’s own perspective.
More than a decade ago, I felt an intuitive ping to move to California. I’ve come to appreciate the openness, diversity, and expansiveness of this part of the world. Outside of work, I enjoy exploring California’s natural beauty, live music and shows, visiting the farmer’s market, and making a home-cooked meal with loved ones and friends.
Training and Education
Today, I’m a psychotherapist and clinical supervisor at a humanistic-oriented nonprofit clinic that supports addiction medicine and mental health treatment. Our work is rooted in harm reduction, social justice, challenging stigma, and empowering clients to take ownership of their choices and their healing.
During and after graduate school, I worked with adolescents and transitional-age youth in school settings — experiences that helped me appreciate and understand how challenging it is to grow up in today’s world.
I hold a Marriage and Family Therapy License in California and have been seeing clients since 2015. I earned my Master of Science in Clinical Psychology from San Francisco State University and my Bachelor of Arts in Communication from American University in Washington, D.C.
While licensure requires years of education, supervised hours, and exams, I believe my deepest learning has come from my own self-work and personal analysis. I see therapy as a lifelong practice — one that continually asks me to grow, to examine, and to show up with authenticity.
I remain dedicated to ongoing training and professional development to deepen my understanding and expand my ability to serve my clients.
Recent post-graduate training and certificates:
Buddhist Psychology Training - 2025 - Spirit Rock Center, Marin, California
Jungian Oriented Psychotherapy - 2024 - C.G. Jung Institute - San Francisco, California
Gottman Method Couples Therapy - Level 1 - 2024 - The Gottman Institute
Certification of Ketamine-Assisted-Psychotherapy - 2023 - Alchemy Community Therapy, Oakland, California