Hi! I’m Sarah!
Are you in a transition that seems overwhelming and is causing your brain to race? Do you find it hard to focus and seem to have a disorganized life? Are you experiencing relationship dysfunction or control issues? Do you find yourself analyzing everyone and everything? Do you experience thoughts of not wanting to get out of bed, even thoughts of wanting to die? Do you sometimes react to things way out of proportion to what was going on at the time and wonder why…? Do you know your marriage could be better but don’t know where to start?
I offer my unique abilities and what we are learning from neuroscience, to bring understanding, clarity, calm, and focus to help you create goals and a plan for your health and wellness. The goals we develop will consider your personality, experiences, and aspirations so you can “be all you can be.”
My view of wellness includes health in physical, psychological, social/relational and spiritual aspects of life. My approach includes leveraging the strengths that you already possess in these areas in order to gain momentum in working on areas that you identify as change areas. Depending on what your goals are for therapy, I have different tools that we can use to help you reach your desired destination. If experiences from your past seem to be hindering your forward progress, I may help you to desensitize and process those through a very useful therapy called EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing).
I consider it a privilege that you are willing to share a part of your journey with me, and I want to extend appropriate time and attention in order to help you accomplish your goals. To that end, I offer sessions of 60, 90, or 120 minutes in my private practice (Ascend Counseling and Therapy Solutions, PLLC).
My background includes a variety of life challenges. My father served under General George Patton in World War II and suffered from PTSD, although no one back then knew about it or how to treat the traumas he experienced. Whether we had a title for it or not, our whole family lived in terror and shame. Domestic violence and the medication of the pain through alcohol were our family secrets. My background also includes a variety of job experiences, such as working as a cashier at a drug store, working in a hospital lab, assisting a bookkeeper, and developing scientific software and databases. After my children went to college, I went back to college myself. I completed a Ph.D. at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in experimental psychology where I focused on neuroscience and emotion research.
I am thankful for the counselors who have worked with me along the way, whether it was adjusting to life as a divorced woman after 22 years of marriage, navigating roadblocks in academic and professional progress, or desensitizing and processing traumas that I have experienced from domestic violence. Those counselors helped me turn my life around from hopeless discouragement to committed purpose. I decided to apply that in counseling. I completed an M.A. from Richmont Graduate University in Marriage and Family Therapy and Clinical Mental Health Counseling and also earned a certificate in Trauma Therapy there. I received training in trauma treatment from Green Cross Academy of Traumatology and have completed EMDRIA-approved training in EMDR. I have also received training in brain health from Dr. Daniel Amen at Amen Clinics. In addition to my clinical training as a Marriage & Family Therapist and Professional Counselor, I am licensed as a Marriage & Family Therapist.
And what are my interests outside of the counseling room? I love traveling, visiting family, and seeing new sights! I also love making music and hiking!
Call Sarah to book an appointment at 865-659-5580 or Email Sarah at sarah@wellnessinknoxville.com
