Sara Lopes , LMHC

Sara Lopes is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) with eight years of experience supporting people facing homelessness, serious mental health challenges, and addiction. She earned a Master’s degree and has combined clinical counseling with extensive social work focused on low-income populations and housing stability, bringing practical understanding of the systems and barriers many clients face.

Sara meets each person at their own pace and prioritizes learning who they are to tailor support that fits. She draws on a blend of approaches including Solution-Focused work, Narrative Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to determine which methods will be most effective for an individual or couple. Her style emphasizes collaboration, respect, and compassion while helping clients build confidence in themselves and in the therapeutic process.

Her stated goal is to help clients notice relief and meaningful shifts as the work progresses, while offering steady guidance and support. She aims to be a partner in clients’ growth, helping them move toward versions of themselves that feel authentic and sustainable.

For reference, her online office hours run Monday through Saturday, with Sunday reserved as a personal day. Messages received after Saturday evening will be answered on Monday. For the foreseeable future, new clients are being seen via live chat and in-app messaging only, not by phone or video.

Therapeutic Approaches for Online Support

Client-centered therapy emphasizes the client’s own goals and values, offering a supportive, nonjudgmental environment where the therapist follows the client’s lead and helps them find their own solutions. This approach is useful for building trust and exploring personal identity, relationships, and self-esteem.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying and shifting unhelpful thoughts and behaviors. In short, it helps people develop practical skills to manage anxiety, depression, panic, and patterns that contribute to stress or substance use.

Motivational Interviewing is a collaborative conversation style designed to strengthen a person’s motivation and commitment to change. It is particularly helpful for issues like addictions, smoking cessation, and ambivalence about treatment or life changes.

Finding the right approach is part of the therapeutic process, and Sara works collaboratively with clients to determine what fits best based on their needs, goals, and preferences. Licensed professionals and therapists often combine methods and adjust over time to match progress and feedback.

Online therapy offers flexible ways to connect, including video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. These options make it easier to schedule sessions around work, family, and transportation constraints, and they support consistent care when in-person meetings are not feasible. For the foreseeable future, new clients are being onboarded via live chat and in-app messaging, while other formats remain common ways therapists provide support.