Sarah Flanagan

My approach is client-led, starting where you need to and only going as deeply as you want to go. I work to truly understand you and your experience, as well as the intersecting social contexts, such as race, gender, and sexuality (to name a few), of your life. I provide a non-judgmental, supportive, and at times playful atmosphere in which you can safely explore and be yourself. By offering a space to give voice to your thoughts and feelings, we will make connections between patterns past and present, allowing you to access and build inner resources and authenticity. I strive to work in an anti-oppressive, feminist, sex-positive, and LGBTQ2S-positive framework. My practice is rooted in relational psychotherapy, emphasizing the importance of the therapeutic relationship as a catalyst for healing. I integrate various modalities, including Relational and Attachment-Based Therapy, Psychoanalytic and Psychodynamic Approaches, Mindfulness and Somatic (Body-Based) Techniques, and Parts Work. At the heart of relational therapy is the relationship: the relationship with oneself, with important people, as well as the relationship between client and therapist. Our sense of self is formed by the experiences we have and the societal context in which we live. These experiences form beliefs, patterns, and ways of coping that may not be serving us any longer. In relational therapy, it is through the co-creation of a new kind of relationship between therapist and client – a relationship based in empathy, support and genuine presence - that healing from past relational trauma can take place. In this way, patterns of relating can be loosened and let go, allowing for freedom and authenticity to flourish.