Open Space

 Sarah Heffron, Therapist (LCSW, LSCSW)

About Me

I am passionate about our natural ability to heal and transform our lives. Caring relationships –with ourselves, with those around us, and with the natural world– soothe and nourish our nervous systems, creating an inner refuge of safety and belonging. This is the foundation for saying YES to life, to vulnerability and connection, to authenticity and expression, to whole-hearted living. I guide this therapeutic process through a heart and body-centered approach rooted in both science and time honored wisdom.

My Background and Life Experience

I grew up in the Colorado foothills, playing in the neighborhood stream, and nearby meadows and mountains. Since my earliest years I have felt pulled toward caring for people, plants and the planet. I have supported troubled teens and children through the Youth Garden Project (as founder and lead mentor); helped support families and honor diversity through the Moab Valley Multicultural Center; and provided tools for resilience to hundreds of students and teachers through Mindfulness in Education (as founder and teacher). I have also worked as a landscape designer, market gardener, florist, parent educator and holistic nutritionist. My greatest growth has been as a parent (and an adoptive one at that). This journey has stretched me, humbled me, filled me, and inspired a passion for strengthening attachment relationships, coaching parents and caregivers, and ultimately becoming a therapist.

In parallel, I have been fed by a deepening connection with the earth through immersing in wild open spaces and gardening. Since my teens, I have been drawn to meditation. These practices have opened me up and helped to gradually cultivate presence, aliveness, awareness, stability, spaciousness, and greater ease in the ups and downs of being human. (Though I will be the first to admit that I still completely lose it at times!)

My Training

I earned my Masters in Social Work from Utah State University in 2017 and have clinical licensure in Utah and Kansas. I have enjoyed working with adults and youth in outpatient settings, schools, and residential care. I have been very fortunate to work and train at KidsTLC, one of the country’s leading residential care providers for youth, applying cutting edge research in neurobiology and attachment to healing developmental trauma. Through Attachment Focused Family Therapy (the core model at KidsTLC-also known as DDP), I have witnessed the lives of families transform. I have worked with a wide array of individuals and families, including adults with early relational trauma (often un-noted until therapy), adoptive families, children in foster care, and families healing the wounds of addiction and domestic violence. By engaging in my own therapeutic work and healing some of my attachment history, I have found more ease and joy in my family relationships.

Additionally, I have trained in EMDR, Mindful Self Compassion, Theraplay, Synergetic Play Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Yoga, and have over 20 years experience in teaching mindfulness (which mimics secure attachment in the brain). Most recently I have completed a year long (300 hour) Eco-chaplaincy program to attend to “eco-anxiety” and other suffering stemming from extreme ecological changes.