Sara Dabney , LCSW

Sara Dabney, LCSW, blends a body-aware foundation with clinical social work training to support people facing stress, anxiety, trauma, relationship challenges, depression, addictions, and a wide range of life transitions. She earned a Master of Social Work from the University of South Florida, where she received Title IV funding for an emphasis in child maltreatment and contributed to graduate research on HIV and PTSD symptomatology. Prior to her clinical degree she trained as a yoga instructor and completed a license in massage therapy in 2014, experiences that inform a holistic perspective on healing and self-care.

Sara practices using evidence-informed methods including cognitive behavioral techniques, mindfulness practices, motivational interviewing, and client-centered care, adapting interventions to each person’s strengths and goals. She works with issues across the lifespan such as self-esteem, grief, parenting concerns, intimacy-related difficulties, and eating or body-image challenges, and offers focused support around adoption and foster care, autism and Asperger syndrome, BDSM and kink-related matters, chronic illness and caregiver stress, dissociation, and substance use concerns.

As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker - LCSW, she emphasizes collaboration and practical skills-building while honoring each person’s identity and lived experience. Sara welcomes people of all faiths, genders - including gender-nonconforming individuals - sexual orientations, and walks of life, and she frames therapy as a partnership in which changing thoughts and habits can open new possibilities for living.

Approaches That Guide Online Care with Practical Tools

In her online work Sara draws on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), which helps people clarify their values and take meaningful action even when difficult thoughts or feelings are present, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), a problem-focused approach that identifies patterns of thinking and behavior to build concrete skills for managing anxiety, depression, and stress. She also uses client-centered therapy to create a supportive, nonjudgmental space where clients lead the conversation and the therapist follows their perspective to foster insight and self-compassion.

Finding the right approach is part of the therapeutic process, and Sara collaborates with each person to determine which methods fit their needs, goals, and preferences. This collaborative stance allows techniques to be blended and adjusted over time so therapy remains responsive and practical.

Online therapy offers flexibility through video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging, making it easier to fit sessions into busy schedules or to access care from different locations. Licensed professionals can deliver many of the same skill-building exercises and reflective work used in person, while offering the convenience and accessibility of remote sessions.