Sarah McNamee  (she/her)

My Background & Approach

I have a Master of Social Work (MSW) and a Master of Applied Science (MScA) in Couple and Family Therapy, both from McGill University.  Since 2010, I have worked in a variety of settings, including working with victims/survivors of sexual assault and intimate partner violence, and people struggling with mental health and substance use. My academic research focuses on developing and improving services for people who have experienced trauma.

Social work and couple and family therapy are both disciplines that look at the world and at people from a systems perspective - meaning that we're interested not just in what might be going on with any one individual person, but also what's going on around them and how that is impacting them. My clinical work is guided by this approach, as well as by theories of individual and family development, attachment, and trauma. I also regularly draw on principles from compassion-based therapy, motivational interviewing, emotion-focused therapy, psychodynamic therapy, harm-reduction, somatic therapies, and mindfulness in my work with clients. But don't worry, if you hate breathing exercises, I won't make you do them!

I have also done training on and am interested in the complicated co-existence of risks and benefits of consciousness altering practices, like mindfulness meditation and psychedelic use. I welcome clients whose experiences have not matched up to some of the commonly seen positive media depictions of these practices and/or who are trying to make sense of their experiences in wellness communities.