ABOUT ME
Meet Sarah Kipnes
It’s time to make a change to live a life of happiness and fulfillment, surrounded by relationships that bring you joy.
Does it feel like…
You are just going through the motions in your relationship?
You’ll never get back on the right track after the loss of your job?
It is such a struggle to be the parent you thought you would be?
Don’t worry- I have your back!
I am passionate about helping you gain insight into yourself, recognize your barriers to change and work with you in overcoming those obstacles to live a happier and healthy life. We work together to identify your goals in therapy and collaborate on the best ways to achieve them with the necessary tools, while keeping you connected to your core values. Throughout our work together you will come away with tangible tools that you can use to transform your thoughts and behaviors in an effort to progress toward change. I believe that therapy only works when there is a trusting relationship between you and me in order for you to transform through the therapeutic process. I recognize that it can be scary to take the step to start therapy.
Whether it is your first time in therapy or you have tried it many times before, it is important that I am the right fit for you and what you need to feel good about embracing this process. I know this is a commitment of time and money so I want you to feel that you are getting the most out of your investment.
Clients say their trust in my ability to understand what they are going through makes it easy for them to be open and honest in sessions.
My clients say I help them become more self-aware in order for them to improve their communication in their relationships. Therapy can be about you facing difficult topics and feelings in order to have conversations that may be challenging, both in session and in your daily life. We can often put up walls to avoid those hard to face discussions. My clients appreciate that I am genuine, honest, straightforward and use humor to get to the other side of those barriers. I will help you open the door to finding relief.
I specialize in building healthy relationships, helping people navigate major life changes, and supporting parents who struggle with the challenges of raising children.
I use a Cognitive Behavioral Therapeutic approach to help you change thoughts and behaviors that may have been contributing to the barriers to living a happier and healthier life. I also use a reflective practice approach to help you develop self-awareness and understanding of those thoughts and behaviors. My role as your therapist is not to give you advice but to help guide you to your desired goal, with you setting the pace.
Experience and Education
I have dedicated my career to social work and delivering therapeutic services to children and families in Oakland, and throughout the Bay Area, for the past 20 years. My work experience has included:
School Social Worker at both alternative and traditional school settings providing individual therapy and crisis intervention support for students and their families.
Medical Social Worker at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland providing both therapeutic and case management services to children and families, along with crisis intervention as a part of the Behavioral Emergency Response Team.
Case Manager at a community clinic pregnant and parenting program providing clinical case management to teen mothers and fathers.
I received my Bachelors of Arts from Brown University and my Masters in Social Welfare from the University of California, Berkeley, with a concentration in Children and Families. I became a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (CA LCSW #26800) in 2010 and received my Pupil Personnel Services Credential (PPSC) in School Social Work in 2006.