Sarah is passionate about working with sensitive adolescents who are healing from complex trauma, self-harm, mood dysregulation, lack of healthy independence, substance abuse, sexual assault, body image and oppositional defiance. She honors the journey of each individual and loves walking with them through their journey of cultivating greater awareness and rising to their full potential. Sarah is skilled in supporting adolescents with finding their authentic selves and learning to harness internal validation, adopting the skill of navigating challenges through self-discovery and self-acceptance.

Many of the adolescents she works with are anxious, depressed and have learned to engage in impulsive behaviors to mask internal pain. Sarah is experienced in understanding the complexities of trauma and teaching the skills needed to emotionally regulate.

Sarah believes that when we work from a strength-based model and honor self-determination, true and lasting change is possible. She encourages her clients to discover their strengths, cultivating resilience so that they can uncover their true and authentic selves. She appreciates that wilderness offers us the gift of connecting us to our own inner wisdom.

Education & Prior Work Experience

Sarah graduated from the University of Utah in 2009. Sarah fell in love with wilderness when she was offered a clinical internship in rural Samburu, Africa. She spent a month immersed in African culture, everything from wearing a kanga, sleeping in mosquito nets, pumping her own water. Through this experience she developed a teen educational vision program. It was life changing to have the unique opportunity to support teens with creating a vision and setting and achieving measurable goals.

Sarah’s commitment to creating change led her to treating families healing from trauma and addiction. She worked in community mental health recovery centers, outpatient settings and hospitals. This led her on a path to become trained in trauma informed evidence-based modalities that support individuals with healing after traumatic experiences.

Sarah became an EMDR certified therapist, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Teacher and Yoga Therapist. Sarah spent three years at a recovery center where she was able to utilize evidence-based modalities to support her clients with healing from trauma and addiction. She takes a holistic, client-centered approach in her work and utilizes evidenced based practices that support the brain with healing and creating new neural pathways.

Strengths

Sarah utilizes creativity and evidenced based modalities to offer support and takes a direct approach when appropriate. Through her training in Mindfulness and Yoga she offers mind-body connection tools to facilitate healing. Sarah is deeply rooted in a strength- based perspective and is passionate about helping others with overcoming shame narratives and finding their gifts. Sarah believes that we can be the victors in our own story.

Interests

Sarah grew up in Northern California and spent time exploring the outdoors with her grandmother, who cultivated a deep love for connecting with nature. Sarah is an adventurer at heart. She is a Tri-athlete but also loves scuba diving, mountain biking travel, hiking, backpacking and exploring Southern Utah. Sarah is a lifelong learner and is always looking to create new, rich experiences.

Sarah is a mother of three children and she loves to create memories, travel and adventure with her family. She takes silks dance classes with her two youngest girls but also enjoys reading, poetry and painting with her children. As a yoga and mindfulness teacher, Sarah enjoys moments of solitude and self-reflection. She is also a Marvel Fan and loves stories where the hero overcomes all adversity. World War II survivors are some of her most admired heroes and she loves reading historical nonfiction.