To schedule a free 15-minute phone consultation, please send an email to sarahbsimpson@protonmail.com. For more information about me, read on…

I’ve been a therapist in private practice since September of 2016. I earned my Master of Arts (MA) in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Goddard College in Vermont. I also have a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from NC State University. I am paneled with Blue Cross Blue Shield, and my private pay fee is $115 per session.

My approach to therapy is informed by aspects of modern psychoanalysis, attachment theory, neurobiology, Buddhist philosophy, and mindfulness-based practices. I believe that psychotherapy is essentially spiritual work, as its ultimate goal is to get us beyond our conditioning. So much of “who we are” has been learned! And thanks to the brain’s ability to change, we can learn new ways of being.

I agree with Zen Buddhist priest Norman Fischer, who said, “Regardless of what has happened or why, this is your life and you are the only one equipped to deal with it.” As a music lover, I’ll also quote Angel Olsen here: “No one can ever be you for yourself.” My primary objective as a therapist is to help my clients become more of themselves.

And the best way to ensure that I’m effective on this path is to become more of myself. American spiritual teacher Ram Dass (one of my heroes) said, “I have to work on myself to become more spacious in order to be available to you, to free you to be able to do what you need to do.” I work on myself through regularly meditation, yoga, and group therapy, and through frequent professional trainings.

What i’m currently reading

  • The Way of Chuang Tze

    Chuang Tzu, who wrote in the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C.E., is the chief authentic historical spokesman for Taoism and its founder, Lao Tzu. In this wonderful collection, Thomas Merton brings a “vivid, modern idiom” to his timeless wisdom.

  • The Courage to Be

    Called by one scholar “the most significant book in religion published in the second half of the twentieth century,” Paul Tillich’s 1952 book describes the dilemma of modern man and “points a way to the conquest of the problem of anxiety.”

  • The Technique of Group Treatment

    This collection of Louis Ormont articles is a must-have for anyone interested in facilitating psychotherapy groups, or perhaps just in being a member. Ormont founded the Center for Group Studies in NYC in 1989, which is still thriving today.

what’s with all the field pictures?

On January 1st, 2024, I took a photo of the field that my husband and I pass by every morning when walking our dogs. Then I took a photo of that same field from the opposite side, vowing to take these photos every morning for the next 365 mornings (accounting for Leap Day). I call this project “The Year in a Field.” It’s a way for me to document time and pay homage to its passing. Plus I just love a good field!