Sarah Smith, LSW

Sarah Smith completed a dual graduate degree program in Social Work from Loyola University and Child Development from Erikson Institute. Within her clinical training at Child Therapy Chicago and Live Oak, Sarah gained knowledge in trauma informed, multi-systemic and multicultural, and LGBTQ affirmative practice including working with individuals, couples, and families exploring gender and sexuality development. Sarah also spent one year of post-graduate work in the Center for Contextual Change’s Externship program receiving additional training in trauma informed therapy, couples therapy, and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT).

Sarah approaches her clinical work through a developmental, multi-systemic and multi-cultural lens. Her work focuses on exploring how patterns of thinking, behaving, and expressing ourselves have developed overtime and creating a safe, trusting, and collaborative context in therapy to begin noticing, acknowledging, and shifting these patterns. Sarah emphasizes learning more about the context in which her clients live because it is essential to better understand them and how their context may influence their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Sarah also takes into account the varying roles and identities her clients have within their lives and the inter-sectional relationship of such identities (familial, racial, cultural, religious, gender, sexuality, etc).

Sarah provides clinical services to individuals, couples, and families. She is currently training at the Center for Contextual Change to co-facilitate an integrative trauma recovery group in Skokie. Sarah also facilitates a DBT group in the West Loop.

“I am not what has happened to me. I am what I choose to become.” — Carl Jung