"Healing may not be so much about getting better, as about letting go of everything that isn't you--all of the expectations, all of the beliefs--and becoming who you are." ~Rachel Naomi Remen |
My passion for helping others live into their unique life story comes from deeply personal experiences. In my own background, I was part of a "high demand" organization for five years that had very specific rules about life. I adapted to the rules, and was a model participant, but felt trapped in a story that wasn’t mine. A big “aha” moment came when I realized my inner life and my outer life were not congruent. They didn’t match. I was living out a life that didn’t belong to me. It took me some time, and a lot of fantastic help along the way, to learn to recognize my own needs and wants and to learn to trust my own intuition.
I can help you to make conscious choices about your life. To decide who you want to be and what you want to do. I love to do this work with both individuals and couples. Often in our relationships, with partners, friends and family, we encounter big differences in our belief systems, our past life stories, our needs and our wants. They bump up against each other, causing confusion or conflict. But these relationships, and the relationship developed between you and I in a therapy setting, offer a wonderful opportunity to look at these deeply held personal beliefs and how they cause us to connect or disconnect with those around us.
With both couples and individuals it is important for me to start with what you bring to the session. You are in charge of your therapy and your goals. I like to strengthen what is already working for you and look at how we might use those strengths to tackle those areas that cause you confusion or pain.
It would be an honor to journey with you in this process.
I can help you to make conscious choices about your life. To decide who you want to be and what you want to do. I love to do this work with both individuals and couples. Often in our relationships, with partners, friends and family, we encounter big differences in our belief systems, our past life stories, our needs and our wants. They bump up against each other, causing confusion or conflict. But these relationships, and the relationship developed between you and I in a therapy setting, offer a wonderful opportunity to look at these deeply held personal beliefs and how they cause us to connect or disconnect with those around us.
With both couples and individuals it is important for me to start with what you bring to the session. You are in charge of your therapy and your goals. I like to strengthen what is already working for you and look at how we might use those strengths to tackle those areas that cause you confusion or pain.
It would be an honor to journey with you in this process.
Experience and Education:
- M.A., Counseling Psychology: Drama Therapy Concentration, California Institute of Integral Studies
- Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist #88566
- Registered Drama Therapist #631
- Advanced Training in Drama Therapy through the Living Arts Counseling Center, under director Armand Volkas
- Advanced Training Level I in the Integrated Five Phase Model of Drama Therapy with Renee Emunah, creator
- Gottman Marriage Training, Level 1
- Advanced Training with the Bader/Pearson Developmental Model of Couples Therapy at the Couples Institute in Menlo Park
- Member of California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT)
- Member of Santa Clara Valley (CAMFT)
- Member of North American Drama Therapy Association (NADTA)
- 2007-2008 Worked at Project Pride In Oakland, CA with incarcerated women, providing drama therapy, talk therapy and addiction counseling to new mothers and pregnant women as they lived in a supportive residential recovery setting with their children.
- 2009-2011 On staff with Bay Area Addiction, Research, and Treatment (B.A.A.R.T.), working with women struggling with opiate and other addictions, as well as depression, anxiety, relationship issues, domestic violence, perinatal and postpartum concerns, dual diagnosis, and trauma.
- 2011-2015 Living Arts Counseling Center, Emeryville CA, working in a creative arts non-profit with individuals, couples and groups with a wide range of presenting concerns.
- 2012-2013 USF Center for Child and Family Development. Elementary school counselor at Allen School in San Bruno, CA
- 2014-2015 Elementary School Counselor for Martin Elementary School in South San Francisco through StarVista
- 2015-2016 StarVista, Facilitator for a weekly drama therapy group at the Women's Enrichment Center
- 2020-2023 Adjunct Faculty at the California Institute of Integral Studies in the Drama Therapy Department.
Yes, I'd like you to contact me!
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Sarah Harkness, MA, RDT, LMFT is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist #88566 and Registered Drama Therapist #631 with a private practice in San Mateo and online. She has worked with people from all walks of life regarding relationship concerns, anxiety, depression, substance abuse, religious trauma, taming the inner critic, and life transitions.