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You Don't Have to Perform Here.

Hi, I'm Sarah (she/her). If you're reading this, chances are you're the one everyone turns to. The steady one. The capable one. The helper. The one who holds it all together, even when it's quietly tearing you apart inside.

 

You've likely made a life out of being "fine"... even when you're anything but. You've survived by being responsible, composed, thoughtful, and high-achieving. You've probably even excelled at it. But inside? You're tired. Lonely. Maybe even unraveling a little.

 

Maybe no one's ever shown you how to fall apart safely. Maybe even past therapy hasn't felt like a place where you could really do that.

 

That's where I come in.

My approach:

I'm not here to help you "fix yourself." I'm here to offer you something you may have never truly had: a space where your needs are allowed, your emotions are welcomed, and your story is held with reverence-not rushed or reframed before it's ready.

Therapy with me isn't about tips, tricks, or surface-level affirmations. It's about gently uncovering what you've been carrying beneath the mask of competence-grief, rage, confusion, brilliance-and doing the work to integrate it into a fuller, more rooted version of you.

This is sacred, layered, deeply human work. And it only happens when you feel safe enough to stop performing.

What I mean by "becoming":

You'll see this word throughout my site: becoming. It's at the heart of what I do-and how I help.

Becoming isn't about self-improvement or forcing yourself to be more "authentic." It's not another standard to live up to. It's about slowly and bravely shedding the roles, expectations, and adaptations that helped you survive-but now feel heavy, constricting, or untrue.

Becoming is about returning to yourself-not the "you" shaped by perfectionism and pressure, but the one underneath. The one who's always been there, waiting for safety, connection, and permission.

You don't have to know who that version of you is yet. You just have to be willing to begin.

Who I work with:

I specialize in working with high-achieving women who:
 

  • grew up in homes where their emotional needs were invisible, minimized, or too much

  • have always been the strong, successful, reliable one

  • feel like they're simultaneously "too much" and "not enough"

  • are burning out from proving their worth while silencing their needs

  • have never truly felt emotionally safe, sometimes even in past therapy


Many of my clients are high-achieving professionals: lawyers, administrators, educators, healthcare professionals, and business owners. I also work with many college students, recent graduates, and young professionals. My clients are brilliant, responsible, and deeply caring humans who are often disconnected from their own care. Deep down, they long for more: more ease, more connection, more self-trust, more aliveness. More them.

 

If that's you, you're not broken. You're just overdue for a relationship where you don't have to perform.

Why I get it:

I'm a licensed therapist, speaker, and former university staff member with over 16 years of experience working with young adults and women navigating identity, anxiety, disordered eating, and attachment wounds.

But I'm also a millennial mom of pandemic-born twins, a solo business owner, and a woman who knows what it's like to lose herself to the roles she was praised for. I know the soul-deep fatigue of holding everyone else up while quietly falling apart inside. I know the terror and liberation of finally asking, "What about me?"

In my 20s, I thought I had found myself. In my 30s, I feared the best parts of me were already behind me. But what I've learned is this: with healing, honesty, and radical self-compassion, you don't settle... you shed. You stop trying to prove your worth and start building a life that honors it.

The work I offer:

I believe that therapy is relational, not transactional. I won't sit back in silence or take notes while you spill your soul. I'll be present, attuned, and deeply invested in helping you feel safe enough to go deeper than you ever have-then walk with you through the messy, beautiful process of integration.

 

Here's what makes working with me different:

  • I don't pathologize your perfectionism, I honor it as an adaptation

  • I work with women whose pain was minimized and never taken seriously

  • I hold space for the hard stuff: grief, rage, loneliness, longing, ambivalence

  • I empower, not advise. You are the expert of your story: I'll help you trust that

  • I don't stop at insight: I walk with you through implementation and sustained growth

When I'm not in session...

You'll find me navigating life in Marquette, Michigan with my husband, our twin daughters, and our blind, grumpy chow chow named Chewie. I love buttercream-frosted cupcakes, puzzles, book clubs, creative craft projects, and deep, late-night conversations. You might also catch me giving talks in the community, hosting a fiction book club, or savoring quiet walks along Lake Superior.

Therapeutic tools & credentials:

My work is emotionally attuned, trauma-informed, and person-centered. I also draw from a strong foundation of evidence-based modalities, including:

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  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

  • Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

  • Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT)

  • Attachment-based therapy

  • Parts work & inner child healing

  • Mindfulness and somatic awareness

  • Strengths-based exploration

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Education & Licensure:

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  • Bachelor's in Political Science with a minor in Communication Studies - Northern Michigan University

  • Master's in Counseling (CACREP Accredited) - University of Wisconsin-Whitewater

  • Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC - Michigan)

  • National Board Certified Counselor (NBCC)

Ready to come home to yourself?

I believe healing is sacred. Laughter is essential. And being fully, emotionally present with another human being is one of the most powerful things we can do.

Therapy isn't where you go to be fixed. It's where you go to be found.

 

If you're ready to stop performing and start becoming, I'd be honored to walk with you.

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