About Sara
Sara Nielsen, LCMHC, LCPC, has worked in counseling for 19 years in Alabama. She focuses on common problems like anxiety, depression, stress, and phobias, and helps people who face trauma, relationship strain, or struggles with eating and body image. Her approach is calm and straightforward and aims to make the first steps easier for someone who is worried or unsure.
She uses methods drawn from cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to help people notice unhelpful patterns and try small, practical changes.
Background and approach
Mindfulness techniques are often added to help with stress and sleep. Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) skills can be used when emotion regulation and impulsivity are a concern. Sessions are collaborative.
The therapist listens first, then offers clear tools and experiments to try between meetings. Goals are set together and adjusted based on what works in real life. Conversations are plain and direct rather than full of jargon.
Sara also attends to relational problems, codependency, and communication breakdowns. She supports people coping with grief, major life transitions, and compassion fatigue. Work on career stress, self-esteem, and motivation is practical and goal-focused.
People who prefer a guided, steady process often feel comfortable with her style. She aims to create an environment without judgment, where clients can talk through fears and test new ways of managing them. Progress is built one step at a time.
Therapeutic approaches and online care
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) focuses on helping people notice hard thoughts and feelings without getting stuck in them, then choose actions that match their values to move forward. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) looks at the links between thoughts, feelings, and behavior and offers practical exercises to change unhelpful patterns. Mindfulness Therapy teaches simple attention and breathing practices to reduce stress and improve sleep and focus.Choosing the right approach is a team effort. The therapist will work with the client to identify current struggles, goals, and preferences, then recommend techniques to try. That plan can shift over time based on what helps in day-to-day life, so clients remain part of the decision process.
Online sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to fit different needs. Video works well for a full session with visual cues, phone can be easier if bandwidth is limited, and chat or text can suit shorter check-ins or busy schedules. These options make it easier to fit therapy around work, family, or travel while using the same therapeutic methods and tools.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Trauma and abuse
- Eating disorders
Also listed
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Co-morbidity
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Eating and food-related issues
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Hoarding
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Mood disorders
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Phobias
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexual dysfunction
- Sexuality
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trichotillomania
- Women's issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 19 years
- Licensed
- Missouri, Kansas, New Hampshire, Alabama
- Languages
- English
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