Oakland Walnut Creek Bay Area Therapist

Welcome to a Different Kind of Therapy.

Longer sessions,
‍ faster and deeper healing.

LEARN MORE

“Healing doesn't mean the damage never existed. It means the damage no longer controls your life.”

— Akshay Dubey

Welcome, I’m Sara

For over a decade, I’ve supported clients in both community mental health settings throughout the Bay Area, and most recently in private practice in Oakland.

My passion for trauma work is rooted in compassionately understanding and treating the complex layers of psychological suffering in every form it can take - from long-standing trauma, chronic stress, to painful relationship patterns. My education as a began as an early fascination with and subsequent degree in neuroscience, and .

I offer intensive therapy using Brainspotting and Psychotherapy (talk therapy) that is deeply attuned, collaborative, and highly tailored to each client’s unique needs. My insights and perception in the therapy room draw from a degree in neuroscience, extensive specialty training in trauma and proven therapeutic modalities, and hard-won personal truths shaped by my own mental health and substance challenges - all of which I seamlessly incorporate to help enhance your healing. Together, we’ll identify and understand the distinct impact trauma has had on you and strengthen your natural resilience using transformative, targeted treatment.

MORE ABOUT SARA APPELBAUM, LCSW

Everyone has different reasons for pursuing therapy…

  • Your everyday stress has increased to a point where you don't remember what joy and peace feel like.

  • You know you need to heal in order to move forward from a painful past, but it feels like “too much” to go there.

  • Your relationships feel like constant stress, leaving you tired, misunderstood, and trapped.

  • You’ve hit a wall in talk therapy and still live with significant anxiety, depression, or sleep issues.

  • You’re not even sure where to begin—you just know something has to change.

  • You’ve “done all the right things” (therapy, self-care, boundaries) but still feel stuck in the same patterns.

  • You’re exhausted from carrying everyone else’s needs and want a place where you can finally exhale.

  • You did everything "right", why do you feel "wrong, not good enough" and unfulfilled?

  • You feel anger, guilt, fear, shame or a deep sense of avoidance when you have to interact with family of origin.

  • Your loved ones tell you that you worry too much and you feel alienated and alone even with supportive friends, family and partners.

  • You love the money and status of your career but you know the culture is killing you slowly.

  • You tend to take on a little too much, a little too often, feel burnt out, emotionally drained or regularly experience somatic symptoms of stress like headaches, difficulty sleeping, difficulty relaxing, irritation.

  • You find yourself driven by the need to feel productive and successful, but notice that the cost of your ambition leaves you feeling drained and disconnected, drinking alcohol and using drugs, or engaging in other escapist activities in ways that feel harmful. 

  • Resting has become scrolling on devices and zoning out in front of the TV, and you live with a sense of disgust and entrapment by your inability to stop engaging in activities you know aren't truly serving you.

  • You feel confused by an intense need to have alone time while also craving connection, or you find that the more intimate your relationships become, the more challenging or even irritating you find them as opposed to the happiness and fulfillment you desire.

  • You feel a sense of accomplishment when you review your life - the kids, the marriage, the dog, the houses, the career - and yet, there's a nagging sense of dread or emptiness which accompanies these joys.

  • You feel externally settled but internally you feel chaotic and emotionally unstable - maybe it is time to face that past experience, that unbearable pain, that loss, that violation of trust in other or trust in self.

  • You experienced acute or prolonged bullying in elementary or middle school or at the hands of an older sibling/relative.

If reading these feel familiar, you’re in the right place!

From transformative intensives to healing trauma to ongoing support…and everything in between.

Experience the power of a multilayered yet targeted approach to your unique needs with a blend of traditional talk therapy and trauma oriented healing.

BRAINSPOTTING

Brainspotting (BSP) is a type of therapy that uses fixed eye positions to access and process emotional or physical trauma. It’s a non-invasive, medication-free reset for your limbic system — the part of the brain that holds emotional and survival responses long after an experience has passed. BSP can help you release stuck patterns, regulate your system, and create space for lasting change.

LEARN MORE ABOUT BRAINSPOTTING

BRAINSPOTTING INTENSIVES

A BSP Intensive is an accelerated form of therapy that condenses multiple, longer sessions into a shorter period to achieve deeper and faster emotional healing and breakthroughs. Unlike weekly sessions, an intensive provides extended, uninterrupted time to process difficult experiences, emotions, or trauma in a focused, distraction-free environment.

PSYCHOTHERAPY

Psychotherapy gives you a consistent space to slow down, notice what’s happening beneath the surface, and begin making sense of old patterns that no longer serve you. It is a free-form conversation centered around a thread of past, present and future self exploration.

LEARN MORE ABOUT PSYCHOTHERAPY

PSYCHOTHERAPY + BRAINSPOTTING

Psychotherapy typically involves 50 minute sessions for clients who have completed a Brainspotting Intensive. Once a client is familiar with Brainspotting, it’s highly versatile nature can be woven into existing talk therapy routines or replace talk therapy for periods of time, at any time, depending on the your needs. 

“If you continue to carry bricks from your past,

you will end up building the same house.”

— Unknown

SCHEDULE A FREE 20 MINUTE CONSULT