Sara Salem

Sara Salem works with children, adolescents, adults, and parents, bringing together psychology, neuroscience, education, and experiential therapeutic work. She holds Master’s degrees in Clinical Psychology and Education and is a Board Certified Cognitive Behavior Specialist.

At the heart of Sara’s approach is curiosity about what lies underneath what we see. With children and adolescents, she looks beyond behavior to understand the developmental, emotional, cognitive, relational, and nervous-system needs it may be communicating. Her work is particularly informed by neurodevelopment, ADHD and executive functioning, CBT, Polyvagal Theory, play and expressive approaches, and parent-child relationships. Parents are often an active part of the process, helping change extend beyond the therapy room into everyday life.

With adolescents and adults, Sara’s work can move beyond present-day symptoms into the patterns and experiences that shape how a person relates to themselves and others. Her approach integrates CBT with attachment and relational work, body-oriented psychotherapy, Gestalt principles, Inner Child work, mindfulness, and experiential approaches. Her four-year training in Essential Psychotherapy deepened her work with psychological defenses, personality patterns, limiting beliefs, the inner critic, vulnerability, relationships, and the connection between emotional experience and the body.

Sara does not believe in applying one therapeutic model to every person. Her approach is integrative, developmental, and relational, meeting each client where they are and adapting the work to their age, needs, personality, and readiness. Whether working through play with a child, identity and emotional regulation with an adolescent, parenting patterns with a caregiver, or deeper Inner Child and relational work with an adult, the aim is not simply to reduce symptoms, but to build greater awareness, regulation, resilience, connection, and choice.