Looking to learn how to “feel your feelings”?

Welcome, I’m Sarah

I’m a trauma therapist based in BC. I have a special interest in complex trauma, relationships, intense emotions, embodiment, and reconnecting with authenticity. I’m an RCC (#16887), with a Masters of Education in Clinical Counselling from the University of British Columbia. My practice is sex-positive, queer, and non-conforming to systems of oppression and normativity.

A person with short brown hair, glasses, and a septum piercing, wearing a teal button-up shirt, standing outdoors with blurred greenery and buildings in the background.

Whatever brings you through the door, therapy can be a container for growth, healing, and change—my role is to guide and support you through that process. I’m a human first, and therapist second, and my way of being with you is informed by 10+ years of training, experience, and my own journey towards internal liberation. My work goes beyond talk therapy, and invites deeper and more impactful healing. I will create the space for you to share, explore, feel, challenge, and transform. You are at the centre of our work, and the expert of your own experience - I’m here to witness, deepen, offer structure, and help untangle & feel through what’s happening inside of you and around you, to make way for your own inner wisdom and healing intuition to come forward. My work is rooted in a systemic understanding that we are not separate from our environments, and I am fiercely community-minded. I believe firmly in the right to self-determination, and I will hold you with integrity and love.

I believe that, wherever we start, we will end up in the right place. Together, we can help you find a deeper understanding and embodiment of your emotions, process and move trauma out of your system, gain insight on your needs and boundaries, and work to leave behind what no longer serves you. I’m not afraid of your big feelings and I am skilled at holding a loving container for you to feel them in. I want to challenge norms, harmful systems, and be fiercely loving in my conceptualization of you and your mental health.

We will start with what’s present in the here and now. The practice of feeling what’s happening in your body, your mind, and in the space between us will help direct us to where you’re needing care, release, and change.

Reconnecting with Self

(Trauma)

How to be with Others

(Relationships)

Authentic Ways of Being

(Neurodivergence)

Experiencing Pleasure

(Sex and Intimacy)

Inner Wisdom & Intuition

(Embodiment)

Facing Shame Lovingly

(Disruption)

Post-Masters Training

  • Emotion-focused therapy was the modality I was first drawn to in my graduate training, and informed my initial post-graduate training choices. Some of the main trainings I completed are:

    EFT for Couples Therapy Externship, Vancouver Couples and Family Institute

    Intro to Emotionally Focused Therapy with Couples, Vancouver Couples and Family Institute

    Emotion Focused Therapy for Individuals, Level I and II, Vancouver Couples and Family Institute

    I find my foundation in emotion-focused therapy supports my deeper work in the somatic attachment realm.

  • I completed a two-year intensive somatic attachment psychotherapy training program with Lisa Mortimore (PhD) and Stacy Adam Jensen (MEd) in 2023, and joined their training team as a facilitator in 2024. This modality is described as the “reparation of early attachment injuries through a framework that weaves together: attachment theory, trauma studies, affect regulation, interpersonal neurobiology, interpersonal/relational psychoanalytic practice, somatic psychotherapy, and deepening connections to the sentient world” (https://somaticattachmentpsychotherapy.ca/)

    I also trained with Stacy Adam Jensen on Chronic Shame in Clinical Practice in 2024, deepening my capacity for working with disassociation, dysregulation, and dysfunctional relationships to self- and others.

  • I resonate with the concept that we develop protective ‘parts’ within ourselves in response to traumatic or wounding experiences. Sometimes, these protective parts play a role in experiences we no longer want to have. In reading a series of books, manuals, and taking some workshop-style trainings on Internal Family Systems, I have found ways to integrate the language of parts into my practice, and can weave it into our work where it feels resonant.

    Notable workshops I’ve taken through IFSCA are:

    Polyvagal IFS: Exploring the Relational Intelligence Model (Francois Le Doze)

    What IFS Therapists Should Know About Trauma (Janine Fischer)

    Firefighters & Addiction (Bob Falconer)

    Resourcing From Source - Bringing More Self to your Life and Work (Loch Kelly)

    IFIO-informed EFT Workshop (Liz Phillips)

    IFS/IFIO Treatment Methods for Sexual Trauma in Couples (Dr. Nancy Wonder, PhD)

  • My first job as a therapist was with a sex therapy clinic (2020-2023), where I was able to learn from in-service programming, workshops, my colleagues and plentiful online resources - I also completed three significant trainings during that time:

    Intensive Sex Therapy Training Program, University of Guelph

    Sex Therapy Certificate, The Buehler Institute

    The Sexually Competent Therapist, Allura Sex Therapy Centre

    I have also completed a Sexual Attitude Reassessment training, meeting all of the course requirements for AASECT certification - I chose to not pursue sex therapy specifically, but my chapter in the sex therapy world and the training/education I received during this time has allowed me to work with clients more deeply re: intimacy, desire, pleasure, consent, boundaries, sexual dysfunction and pain, and with folks exploring kink/fetish/BDSM and non-monogamy.

  • I started seeing couples during my practicum internship at The Adler Centre. I went on to train with the Vancouver Couples and Family Institute between 2020 - 2022 (see: emotion-focused therapy), which laid the foundation for my relationship work. My sex therapy training also included significant training on working with couples, particularly with desire discrepancy, expanding intimacy, and sexual communication. I also weave in IFIO (Intimacy from the Inside Out), supported by my learnings in the world of Internal Family Systems, which prioritizes vulnerability in the dyad dynamic.

    My work with dyads (partners, friends, siblings etc) focuses on deepening your shared understanding of each other, safely communicating from more honest & vulnerable places, and allowing space to name hurt & harm in order to facilitate movement towards repair. 

  • My own healing journey has included walking alongside plant medicine to facilitate the softening of defences (“Protectors”) to make way for spiritual and primary wisdom to emerge.

    After taking an Introduction to Psychedelics with Numinus,‍ I decided to expand my professional clinical knowledge of working with these medicines.

    I am in the midst of Therapsil’s Fundamentals of
    Psilocybin-Assisted Psychotherapy     in-depth training program. Reach out if you’re needing support identifying and exploring intentions (‘set’ of set and setting), I’m more than happy to explore with you, and offer information that supports harm reduction.