About Me
As your therapist, one of my priorities is to walk alongside you as you grow into the most integrated version of yourself, embracing your autonomy and strengths. It can be difficult to balance your sense of internal safety and the external commotion of the world. A sense of disillusionment occurs when our external wants do not meet our internal needs. I focus on your concept of Self as it relates to emotional disturbance, fragmentation of the self, maladaptive thinking patterns, and dissociation. My aim is to work with you to embrace and overcome challenges endured throughout the lifespan and to help you find alignment within.
My clinical areas of strength include childhood trauma/Complex PTSD/PTSD, complex dissociation, complex family dynamics, anxiety, depression, processes of grief, healing perfectionism, and promoting integration between the mind and body. I work with you to help you access the internal resourcing within in aim of promoting a healthy self-concept. Working collaboratively to assist you in reaching your best emotional, mental, and spiritual alignment is the focus of my practice. I practice from a bottom-up approach while looking through a psychodynamic, trauma- and attachment-focused lens to help you heal internal wounds and find safety within. I am excited to be a part of your healing journey. As many of us are, I, too, am on my own healing journey. I understand the complexity of wanting alignment and certainty, to the point of necessity and just how important the experience of feeling yourself is.
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I am a graduate of the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. My master's degree is in Forensic Psychology. After having completed my clinical rotations in inpatient care, I was quickly taken aback by the absence of trauma-focused care to those that need it the most. Although, my specialization is rooted in complex trauma, complex dissociation, complex family dynamics, and chronic stress, I am a generalist first and like to think that trauma focused care is most applicable when working with the variety of complexity that we all share, as it is relational, experiential, and embodied, embracing of what most of us may first think to turn away from.
I am EMDR trained (2022) and have completed extensive training on applying EMDR to complex trauma presentations and those that experience complex dissociation (2022-2023). I am also trained in the application of Clinical Hypnosis (Level 1; 2022), and Ego State Therapy (Level 1; 2023). I am a bit of a training and reading fanatic, and so there are a few more that I won't name. I am always learning alongside all of you and hoping to learn from you about what works best for you.
-Sarah Vassileff, MA, LCPC
Mission
My mission is to walk alongside you as you bloom into the many different iterations of yourself that you will meet through your life and therapeutic journey. My practice is grounded in building a safe container in our therapeutic relationship. Promoting internal safety and helping you reach your most authentic Self is my life's mission.
Vision
I like to practice from a collaborative and shared vision between you and I as it relates to our work together. I like to utilize integrative approaches to promote
holistic and impactful healing. Regulation is not just emotional. In our work together,
I envision that we can work toward holistic regulation of the many internal
systems that support us. My ultimate vision is to guide you into the healing and
life that feels just right for you.