sarah’s story

Hello! I’m Sarah (she/they). I am originally from Michigan, and have lived in the Pacific Northwest since finishing college. I started out in Seattle, WA before moving to Portland after graduate school at the University of Washington. Seattle was great, but I love Portland! It’s so much easier to bike around in than hilly Seattle and snowy Michigan.

When I’m not working, I love moving my body. I bike all around, play Ultimate Frisbee, and love dancing with friends. I am also an avid fiber artist and I love making things I can wear and cherish. I sew, crochet, and am perpetually learning how to knit. I also love listening to audiobooks and music and I watch a fair amount of TV and movies.

I’m a lifelong helper, volunteering from a young age with my mother in neighborhood organizations, schools, churches, and craft fairs. I have always gravitated to young people, even as a young person. I am passionate about working within relationships and family dynamics to help folks build healthy communication and both their sense of self and a sense of connectedness to others and their world.

Now for the professional stuff: 

I received a Bachelor of Social Work from Kuyper College, a small Christian school, where I advocated fiercely for LGBTQI+ acceptance in a space that is not historically welcoming. After undergrad I moved to Seattle and served in AmeriCorps for 2 formative years with runaway, homeless, and exploited youth. I went on to graduate with a Master of Social Work from the University of Washington – Seattle, with an emphasis on clinical practice, and children, youth, and families. I am a registered Licensed Clinical Social Worker (L6864) in the State of Oregon. 

Prior to joining sprout, I worked as a clinical social worker at Unity Center for Behavioral Health in its adolescent psychiatry inpatient unit. Before that I was a child and family therapist at Trillium Family Services’ The Parry Center for Children, a psychiatric residential treatment center. I have also worked in school-based mental health and volunteered at an LGBTQI+ drop-in center.

My therapy style is collaborative, inquisitive, and dynamic. As a therapist, my goal is to get to know you, the expert on your life, and to help you find the insight and tools to help yourself. I am here to create safety, set clear expectations, and help you understand how your thoughts and emotions influence your habits, and vice versa. I use a psychodynamic therapeutic approach, which means I seek to understand you as a whole person, over time, as part of a community, and I believe your lived experiences and beliefs influence your present-day strengths and needs. I also draw from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and the ways it helps us understand the interconnected influence of our thoughts, emotions, and actions.

I am trained in Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS), Trauma-Informed CBT, Motivational Interviewing (MI), and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT). I work with children, teens, adults of all ages, and families. I have experience working with people who experience traumatic stress, depression, anxiety, attention challenges and low self-image, as well as substance abuse and dependance, contemplating suicide, grief, relationship and intimacy challenges, disordered eating, and coping with various life transitions. 

I am also an approved supervisor candidate for the Oregon Board Licensed Clinical Social Workers (OBLSW) and the Oregon Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapists (OBLPCT). I am available to provide clinical supervision for clinical social work associates, marriage and family therapist associates, and professional counselor associates seeking licensure. As a clinical supervisor, I utilize a relational, systemic, and social justice framework. I work to strengthen clinical skills, and also work on issues of systemic dysfunction in institutions; nervous system regulation and use of self; vicarious trauma and moral injury; associates’ areas of privilege, oppression and cultural awareness. I also believe clinicians need truly safe/brave and engaging spaces to address their own mental health/lived experience/identities in supervision. 

I also serve as our VP of Compliance and Director of Client Care, where I support our team with data, reporting, compliance and audit preparedness, credentialing, and staff training. I also supervise our Intake Coordinator and Case Manager.

Currently, I am not taking on new clients or supervisees. To be connected with a clinician, please book a screener with our Intake Coordinator.

See our fees and insurance page to determine if Sarah is in network with your insurance plan.

You can reach Sarah directly at:
sarah@sprouttherapypdx.com