Sarah Turnpaugh , LCSW

Sarah Turnpaugh uses a client-centered approach to help people work through stress, anxiety, grief, and relationship strain. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and focuses on practical steps people can use day to day. Sarah speaks plainly and listens closely to understand what each person needs.

Sarah has five years of clinical experience with adults and adolescents. She helps people cope with trauma and abuse, depression, low self-esteem, caregiving strain, and challenges that come with major life changes. She also supports people dealing with ADHD, anger, career uncertainty, and the emotional effects of illness or cancer.

In sessions Sarah draws on cognitive behavioral ideas to identify unhelpful thinking and try small behavior changes. She uses motivational interviewing to boost commitment and solution-focused and narrative strategies to find strengths and workable next steps. These techniques are mixed to match what a person wants to work on.

Sessions tend to be straightforward and goal oriented. Sarah aims to build a respectful space where people feel heard and can practice new ways of coping. She encourages short-term strategies and long-term skills for lasting change.

Sarah is based in Virginia and meets with clients in English. She works with issues that commonly affect women, including body image, parenting strain, and caregiver stress, while keeping the focus on each individual's concerns and goals.

Therapeutic approaches and online care

Sarah frequently uses client-centered therapy, which focuses on understanding each person's experience and building a respectful working relationship to guide change. This approach helps people who need a supportive space to talk through feelings and clarify goals.

She also integrates cognitive behavioral therapy, which looks at how thoughts and behaviors interact and uses simple experiments to shift patterns that maintain anxiety or low mood. CBT is practical for stress, depression, and improving daily routines. Motivational interviewing is used to strengthen a person's readiness to change by exploring values and personal motivation; it can help with commitment to new habits or steps in recovery.

Choosing the right approach is part of the work. Sarah collaborates with each person to try methods that fit their goals and preferences, adjusting plans over time based on what helps most. The process is conversational and goal focused so progress can be clear.

Online sessions are offered by video, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to increase flexibility. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation, phone sessions can fit shorter breaks or lower bandwidth, chat and messaging are useful for brief check-ins or when typing feels easier. These options make it simpler to keep momentum while fitting therapy into a busy life.