About Sarah
Sarah Spurling is a licensed clinical social worker who helps people feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or burned out. She meets adults where they are and focuses on simple, practical steps that make day-to-day life easier. Her approach is warm and down-to-earth so people can speak without having to mask or explain themselves.
If your thoughts feel loud, motivation is low, or you’re managing a big transition, she offers steady support. Sarah centers the relationship in therapy.
Background and approach
That means listening first, then working together to find what helps. She aims to create a space where clients can try new ways of coping without pressure. Progress often looks like small, steady changes rather than sudden fixes.
Her work often includes helping people manage anxiety, stress, grief, and the aftermath of trauma. She also supports adults exploring neurodivergence, including later-in-life autism diagnoses. In sessions she focuses on understanding patterns that keep problems going and on practical tools to change them.
Sarah combines respectful listening with approaches that teach skills for emotion regulation, thought management, and values-based action. She uses clear, hands-on strategies that fit into everyday routines. Sessions may include collaborative goal-setting, practice between meetings, and check-ins on what’s working.
Therapy can feel daunting at first, and Sarah treats getting started as part of the work. She encourages a paced, client-led process so people can build confidence and feel more grounded over time.
How therapeutic approaches translate to online care
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, helps people notice their thoughts and choose actions that match their values instead of getting stuck in worry. It’s often useful for anxiety, stress, and when motivation feels low. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, focuses on spotting unhelpful thinking patterns and trying new behaviors to change feeling and functioning. It is practical for anxiety, mood shifts, and body image struggles.Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will listen to your goals and preferences, explain different methods, and try techniques together to see what fits. Over time the plan can be adjusted based on what helps you feel more grounded and able to manage daily life.
Online sessions are offered as video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to give flexible options. Video works well for deeper conversations and visual cues, phone sessions can fit a quick check-in or when bandwidth is limited, live chat and messaging make brief check-ins and skill practice easier between meetings. These formats let people fit therapy into work or family schedules and keep momentum between sessions.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
Also works with
- Abandonment
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Body image
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Dissociation
- Emptiness
- Family of origin issues
- First responder issues
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Immigration issues
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Multicultural concerns
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Somatization
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 3 years
- Licensed
- Illinois
- Languages
- English