Family Therapy in Kirkwood, MO

Please email rather than call. People I work with are typically experiencing stress/anxiety at home, work, school and may be having difficulty with relationships. Often individuals have trauma histories to explore or are impacted by stressful relationships such as caregiving, family members with substance use, or conflict in romantic relationships. Most importantly, our therapeutic relationship is an environment that is safe for you to explore your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors so you can begin to find peace, increased self-worth, better boundaries, and improved ability to feel joy in all of your spaces you occupy

I am passionate about working with children, adolescents, and adults offering individual, family and couples counseling who are experiencing life transitions or difficult seasons of life accompanied with symptoms of depression, anxiety, trauma, and/or behavioral and mood disturbances.

I work with adults and families who are challenged by symptoms of anxiety, depression, behavioral issues or other barriers to emotional well-being. My specialty is helping to gain an understanding of what has led to your current situation, and then moving toward solutions. I have a working understanding of family systems, attachment science, personality disorders and trauma-informed practices. I especially enjoy working with parents who are struggling with their children's behaviors or compliance, and I am also passionate about helping adult clients become "cycle breakers" and gain relief from generational dysfunction.

I believe in providing a safe space for my clients to work towards their goals. By providing a safe space to open up about vulnerable topics my goal is to assist you in learning how to challenge maladaptive coping strategies and replace them with adaptive ones. In counseling the process to work towards change can be scary and difficult and that is why my number one goal as a therapist is providing a safe and inviting space to open up.I believe in using a person-centered approach, which means allowing you to guide the sessions. I have found that allowing you to build rapport and work towards your goals it fosters the most change.

My general approach with working with clients for over 17 years is highly individualized, relational and strengthen based. I believe most clients simply need an environment to communicate, process feelings and gain insight in order to create a more fulfilling and meaningful life. I offer individual therapy for adolescents, adults and family therapy . My passion has always been treating eating disorders and the underlying causes such as depression and anxiety. Another clinical passion and area of focus has been assisting women and mothers with identity development and navigating life transitions.

Specializing in adolescent, adult, and family therapy , my mission is to help you and your family live your best lives—to close the gap between your "real self" and your "ideal self". To reduce conflict. To overcome negative behavioral patterns. To gain self-awareness, emotional insights, and regulation. To help you live in alignment with your values. Whatever your goals, I'm here to help you reach them—fully, presently, and with 100% commitment to you and this process.

Pain. Fear. Anxiety. Sadness. The majority of challenges we experience in our life probably have something to do with relationships; either relationships with ourselves, our family , our jobs, our thoughts, etc. CHANGE can be scary and painful. Through building a therapeutic relationship with me, you can process your life, decisions, consequences, and hopes with support, empathy, and truth.

Hi there, I am here to help you. I work with individuals, couples, and families with struggles ranging from current life issues, relationship struggles, and issues that have been a lifelong battle. Clients often come to me because they have hit the lowest point and have never felt more alone, even after trying therapy countless times before. Many clients have left counseling finding resolution and a drive to live their life to the fullest. My clients have expressed finding healing, feeling equipped to manage life, and having healthier relationships and connections with others that they previously thought weren't possible.

You are trying hard to keep it all together. You desperately want to stay on top of everything in your personal and professional life but you are struggling to keep up. You want to be present with your family but your endless to-do list swirls through your mind. You feel guilty, anxious, and tired. You are feeling more disconnected from friends and family . You just want to feel like your happy self again. It doesn't have to be this way and you are not alone in the struggle. I can help you reconnect with your needs, your voice, your sense of self. You have a deep well of power, wisdom, and resilience within you.

With compassionate guidance, I believe in a therapeutic partnership with my clients to draw on your personal strengths, build new skills, increase awareness, and assist you in creating positive change. For more than 20 years I have worked with children, teens, adults, couples, and families. My focus includes relationship issues, pre-marital counseling, family stressors, trauma related experiences, anxiety, depression, self-injurious behaviors, parenting issues, & grief and loss. By starting where you are, I can help you identify your needs, and together we will begin the journey towards a deeper level of change and satisfaction.

I believe change is possible! I help people just like you improve their relationships and build healthy interpersonal and family interactions by highlighting your strengths and resources, and helping you develop new coping strategies. I help families in crisis due to school issues, relationship issues and economic issues. I work with grief and specializes in issues related to pregnancy loss, infertility, life transitions for women including career issues, relationships, child birth, adoption, empty nesting, divorce and menopause.

You stepped into your adulthood with the dream of building a full and happy life. Now, it feels like that is just a fantasy. You are struggling with anxiety or depression and maybe even trauma. You might be spread very thin between children, family roles and career. Some days you may feel so exhausted, that you are in survival mode. I would love to talk with you about catching your breath and learning to prioritize what is really important to you and to create more time and space for the happy and fulfilling life that YOU deserve.

Welcome to Elephant Rock Counseling - we have recently added an experienced female therapists who still has some availability for NEW CLIENTS. The majority of our therapists work with Adults & Adolescents - we can assist with important life goals and help you find more adaptive coping skills working through challenging obstacles that usually lead one to therapy. Areas of speciality include: Motivational Interviewing for Addiction, Behavioral Activation for Depression, Acceptance and Commitment Trauma Focused Therapy for Anxiety, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) for Suicidal & Self-Harm Behaviors.

Using gentleness mixed with honesty, I will call you forward to better. Not to shame, but to healing. Freedom, passion, vibrance, thriving and not simply surviving. It's possible. There's hope. I believe we hold power over our own healing. I merely come alongside those who have decided to make that brave journey. Since the very beginning of my career, the most consistent feedback is of feeling safe and truly understood. I believe in "working myself out of a job", achieved by doing good work and encouraging clients to test and stretch their growth. They do this out on their own, knowing they can return for new layers of work.

I work with individuals who are navigating grief and loss, eating disorders, anxiety, depression, life transitions and identity development. In therapy, I balance addressing symptoms and looking beyond the surface to address the underlying emotions driving behavioral and interpersonal patterns. By learning new adaptive coping strategies and gaining insight into the early development of current emotional wounds or maladaptive behaviors, clients can feel empowered to create positive change.

Focused on women and female youth, Sarah's practice offers therapy for individuals, families and groups, within a safe and nurturing environment. This strong therapeutic alliance affords clients the comfort in which to develop greater self-awareness, heal from past traumas, and learn to cope with present difficulties. Along with her full-time private practice, Sarah is an Adjunct Professor at Washington University Brown School, where she received her graduate degree, and maintains an active presence in the community as a private doula and as the Missouri Co-Coordinator for Postpartum Support International.