About Sara
Sara Contreras is a California licensed marriage and family therapist with five years of clinical experience. She focuses on helping people manage stress, anxiety, depression, trauma, and major life changes in a calm, practical way. Sessions are conversational and grounded in everyday language so parents can follow along easily.
Sara draws on somatic work to help people notice how emotions show up in the body and to use that information during sessions.
Background and approach
She also uses attachment-based and client-centered ideas to build trust and put each person’s needs first. Cognitive behavioral techniques and existential approaches are available when people want to clarify thinking patterns or consider meaning and values.
People come to her for a wide range of concerns, including relationship and intimacy struggles, grief, parenting strain, sleeping problems, ADHD, bipolar concerns, and chronic pain or illness. She also supports those facing identity-related stress, codependency, body image, and compassion fatigue. Sara treats specific issues like abandonment, dissociation, and attachment difficulties with attention to practical steps and bodily experience.
Sara offers sessions through video, phone, live chat, and text-based messaging to fit busy schedules. She works with each person to set goals, try tools between sessions, and adjust the plan as needed. Her approach aims to be steady and responsive rather than rushed.
To begin, people follow the platform process to match and schedule a time that works. Sara coordinates scheduling needs and strives to make the logistics simple so clients can focus on their progress.
How Somatic and Attachment Work Translate Online
Somatic techniques help people notice bodily sensations tied to emotions and learn simple ways to regulate tension and stress. Online sessions can guide gentle breathing, grounding, and body awareness exercises while talking about what comes up.Attachment-based work focuses on building a reliable, respectful relationship in the therapy space so people feel safer naming needs and patterns. Client-centered care means the therapist follows the person’s pace, listens without judgment, and adjusts sessions to fit each person’s goals.
Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will discuss goals and preferences, try different tools, and check in regularly to see what is helpful. That way the plan shifts as needs change rather than staying fixed.
Online therapy offers flexibility for busy schedules through video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging. These options make it easier to fit sessions around work, childcare, and other demands while still getting consistent support. Many people find the variety of formats useful for different kinds of work - deeper conversations on video and short check-ins via messaging.
Frequently asked questions
What kinds of problems does she help with?
What is her therapeutic style like?
How much clinical experience does she have?
Where is she licensed and based?
Which languages are supported for sessions?
What session formats are available online?
How are fees and payments handled?
How do I start a therapy process with her?
Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
Also works with
- Abandonment
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- BDSM, kink, and alternative sex culture
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Dependent personality
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Phobias
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexual dysfunction
- Sexuality
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Somatization
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 5 years
- Licensed
- California
- Languages
- English